Harry Potter: The Next Generation Year One
by JacobKragoff- 2nd Account
Summary: This follows the new generation of wizards as they go through their first year of Hogwarts. Scorpius trying to find his place and prove himself as Albus struggles with his older brother's torments. Rose becomes the new Hermione and a new adventure begins
1. Chapter 1

Note: This is a re-write of a terrible old story I did a year or two ago. This is a full story of the first year at Hogwarts with all of the characters of the HP next generation. This is the first fic in a series of seven, obviously. I really hope you do enjoy. Please, please, please, PLEASE REVIEW!

THE NEXT GENERATION: YEAR ONE

Chapter One: The children

There was in no way the young Scorpius Malfoy was anything like his father. True, he bared a strong resemblance, handsome with blonde hair and pale skin. However, if a person were to look closely, they would see that he never wore that sneer Draco's fellows had seen on him. The reason was that Scorpius and Draco Malfoy were as different as could be.

The family named disgraced, the large inheritance Draco was supposed to have locked away in Gringots, the Malfoy family was the farthest thing from respectable or rich. Draco made his living as the assistant to Jacob Kragoff, the current Minister of Magic. He had taken the job after quitting his career as an Auror. It wasn't because his boss was Harry Potter, just that no one else besides Potter and his friends took Draco seriously or respected him. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy had become friends through the corse of their final year at Hogwarts after the Final Battle. Draco had returned half way through the year, after being released from Azkaban on an appeal led by his mother who had been given a full pardon after saving Harry's life. It had taken a long time but a certain Professor had managed to bring the two boys hatred out of their minds.

Even though Draco had changed in many ways, he was still very stubborn and always worked to regain family honor, though no one else seemed to trust him. His wife, Astoria, was a beautiful woman with long, shining black hair. She was kind to almost everyone she met, becoming best friends with Ginny Potter as well. She was often asked why she had married Draco Malfoy in the first place. She simply stated that he was a fine man who had made mistakes out of the need to protect his family in a time of distress.

Their son was a very different matter. Scorpius had a personality more like his mother's than his father's. He always wanted to be nice to people and he had no prejudice against anyone, not even Muggle-borns. He was, as his father would call him, an interesting case. Scorpius did not really spend time with a large number of children his age as he was ignored, people naively assuming he was like his father and grandfather.

It was merely something Scorpius had to live with, being a Malfoy. He had no pride about it at all. In fact, it was something he was ashamed of. He had considered changing his hair color, to look less Malfoy, but he was still recognizable by his face, the face of Draco Malfoy at age eleven. These were the reasons why Scorpius dreaded the future when he received the much anticipated letter one summer morning.

Dear Mr. S Malfoy,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Dear Mr. A Potter

We are very pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Dear Ms. R Weasley,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Scorpius read the rest of the letter aloud to his parents, his mother beaming at him, Draco simply nodding his head.

James clapped a hand on Albus's back, proceeding to ruffle his little brother's hair. Ginny hugged and kissed him as his father grinned broadly, quickly summoning the telephone.

"Yes, yes! Rose got one too, Harry," Hermione said excitedly into the phone. "Oh, Ron! Albus received his letter too!"

Ron broke away from the cheery redheaded girl he had been hugging and came over to the phone to talk to Harry.

"I'll have to call Ginny," Astoria decided, rushing out of the kitchen to the fireplace, floo powder in hand.

Scorpius and Draco stood in silence for a few moments before Draco muttered

"Congratulations, son." and walking out as well.

...

The Malfoy family walked through Diagon Alley, ignoring any occasional glaring they would receive. Scorpius stayed close to his father, feeling more protected. Finally, they were walking into Gringots. The large building had an even more beautiful inside, marble walls and floor. Scorpius paid no attention to all of the Goblins staring at him with dark eyes. He did not believe it was because of his being a Malfoy but more or less because Goblins seemed to hate humans to begin with.

"I'd like to enter my volt, please," Draco said to the Goblin at the largest desk.

"Ah," he said in a high voice. "Mister Malfoy. I will need to see your key."

Draco removed the key from his pocket, holding it for the Goblin to see.

"Very well," the creature smiled. "If you will kindly follow me."

He led them through the large iron door which led into the "Underworld of Gringots" as many called it.

The group of four climbed into the cart, the goblin pulling a lever and making it push forward and down the track, reminding Scorpius of Muggle Roller Coasters.

After a few short minutes of speeding deeper into the ground, the cart came to a stop in front of their volt. The Malfoys stapes out, followed by their guide, who moved in front of them, key in hand.

"Stand back," he reminded.

After unlocking the door, he stepped away as it swung forward, revealing decent amounts of gold, silver, and bronze.

"You may now remove the amount you need," said the goblin.

Astoria held out a leather pouch for Draco to scoop money in.

"Yes, well that will be all," Draco told the goblin as he finished shoveling the money.

"Then we will now return," he announced.

...

Albus sat in his room, twirling the long brown wand in his hand. It was beautiful, despite being 12 inches of wood. It was elm with a unicorn hair in the core. Al personally felt the wand had chosen quite well.

There was a knock on his door followed by a

"Al?" from his big brother, James.

"Come in," Al called.

James Sirius Potter walked in, smiling his cocky grin as he looked upon the small figure of Albus.

James was very good looking. He did not really look like his dad beside his black hair. His hair was much curlier and large, covering the top of his head in a small afro. He had blue eyes and a face people always said looked very Weasleyish, despite the absence of freckles. Albus admired his brother, but was intimidated by him. A star Quidditch chaser at Hogwarts who could make girls heads turn just by strutting through the common room after a game. How could Al compete with that?

Albus looked exactly like his father, perhaps taller. He had every old feature, including the jet black hair matted over his head, untidy on the top and in the back. He had also been the only Potter child to inherit their departed grandmother's eyes.

"You're nervous, aren't you?" James asked.

When Al said nothing in reply, James laughed and hopped on to the bed as well. He put an arm around his sibling and said

"Nothing' ll go wrong. Don't worry. There's just the problem of what house you'll be sorted into."

Al looked at him.

"Problem?" he inquired. "What does it matter what house I'll be in, long as it isn't Slytherin?"

"Ah, THERE'S your problem, little bro. There's a pretty good chance of being in Slytherin, right?"

Al froze.

"N-no," he muttered. "No, I'm n...not gonna be in Slytherin."

James snickered.

"Aw, you're beginning to stutter. Guess you're nervous. Don't worry. As a fourth year Gryffindor Quidditch star, I have the power to make your life as brilliant as can be in terms of popularity. Unless you're in Slytherin. Then I can make your life a living hell! Bye!"

He cheerfully exited the room, leaving his stunned younger brother quivering with nerves.

...

As the Malfoys walked out of Flourish and Blots, Scorpius mentioned how he still needed a wand.

"Very well. I'll go and buy your owl and your mother can go and get you some Potion supplies."

Astoria nodded.

"We can...trust you, right?" he said, looking down on his son.

Scorpius tried not to look nervous under his father's glare.

"Y-yeah, da- I mean- Yes, father," Scorpius responded.

He turned on his heel and quickly sped away, passed the large Weasley Wizard Weezes joke shop and right in front of the small wand shop.

He took a deep breath, wondering if the shop keeper would resent him, and entered.

A tall man with short, dark brown hair and a pointed Wizard's cap to match his dark purple robes looked up as Scorpius entered. Surprisingly, he smiled.

"Hello there, Mr. Malfoy," he greeted.

Scorpius stared and then said

"I actually prefer-,"

"Scorpius," the man interrupted, moving from behind the desk. He shook his hand and introduced himself as Mr. Olivander.

"I replaced my great-uncle after his unfortunate death six years ago. I always figured I would be the one to take over the family business. But enough of that, let's find the right wand for you."

He picked up a rectangular box from a shelf and removed the wand as the lid magically lifted off.

"Ah, yes. Blackthorn with a string of holly as the core. Hard and strong in the right hand."

He handed the thick black wand to Scorpius. The child knew immediately this wand wasn't for him. As he felt the weight, he thought that it was probably not in the "right hand".

"Give it a wave," Olivander pressured slightly.

Scorpius nodded and waved it through the air.

Immediately, the shelf behind them shot twelve wand boxes out at them. Scorpius leaped out of the way in fright while Olivander calmly ducked without paying them any attention, proceeding to take the wand away from Scorpius and mutter

"Probably not."

...

Rose and Hermione sat in the kitchen, Hermione still grinning broadly and beaming at her daughter.

"I'm sure you'll love it just as much as I did, Rosie. Everyone always says you're just like me."

"Means you're gonna answer all the questions for the others," Ron joked as he and Hugo entered.

"Oh, shut up, Ron," Hermione said as her husband lovingly wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

"I'm always mad at you," she replied, smiling.

...

Five wands later, Olivander brought out the sixth choice. As soon as Scorpius looked at it, he felt something, like a connection. It was thirteen inches, ink black and thin. As he took it, he felt how light and swishy it was. As soon as he closed his fingers over the handle, the wand tip glowed brightly, sending a wind through the store and making Scorpius's hair billow slightly, like a wonderful feeling breeze had hit them.

"Excellent," Olivander murmured a satisfied look on his face. "That is an elm wand, just like your grandfather's. Except that your wand has a different core. A Phoenix feather. Use it well. It is an excellent wand."

He accepted Scorpius's six sickles and bowed him out of the shop.

...

September 1st,

Well, it's finally come. I don't know whether or not people will expect me to be just like my mother or not, but what I do know is that I'll work hard to be my own person. After all, it's who I am. Albus Potter is not Harry Potter. And I am not Hermione Granger...I am Rose Weasley.

Rose put her pen down and closed her diary. Neatly placing both in her trunk, she sat on her bed, waiting for the sun to rise and for it to be time to finally go to Hogwarts.

...

Scorpius walked with his parents through the crowded station of King's Cross. The Muggles noticed nothing as all three of them walked straight through the brick barrier and into platform 9 3/4. Once through, Scorpius pushed his trolley up to the gleaming red train, the Hogwarts Express.

...

Little Albus pushed his trolley through King's Cross, looking at his smirking older brother.

"Ready for your sorting?" he asked. "Think you'll get stuck in Slytherin?"

"I won't," Albus snapped back. Then, as if more sure of it- "I won't be in Slytherin!"

"James," Ginny began. "Give it a rest."

"I only said he MIGHT be," James responded. "He MIGHT be in Slyth-,"

He faulted under the look their mother gave him.

As Harry assured his crying youngest child, Lily, that the two years from now before she attended would be here before she knew it, James ran through the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

Albus looked nervously at the brick wall, as if not completely sure of it.

Harry put an assuring arm around his son and took hold of the trolley as well.

"Together," he assured.

They both ran through the wall and into 9 3/4.

Rose smiled as her mother zipped up her jumper, still asking if she was sure she had everything. By the end of it, Hermione embraced her child as Ron cheerfully smiled while putting an arm around his son, Hugo. Hugo looked like a mix of Weasley and Granger. He had brown hair but still had freckles and an adorable smile. Ron always commented how Hugo was better looking than himself at that age.

As they met up with the others, Albus and Rose grinned to each other, Al's looking rather forced.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, reading his expression.

"Nothing," he told her.

As she climbed on board, Al pretended to tie his shoe. Harry saw his son and leaned in front of him.

"Dad," Al said. "What if I am in Slytherin?"

Harry looked at the copied image of himself at the age of eleven. He looked into those eyes...his eyes...Lily's eyes. Albus was the only child of Harry's to inherit them.

"Albus Severus," he started. "You were named for two head masters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin...and he was probably the bravest man I've ever knew."

This made Al smile until he continued

"But...just say-,"

"Then Slytherin house will have gained an excellent student, won't it? It doesn't matter to us, Al. But if it means that much to you, you'll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account."

"Really?"

"It did for me."

They stood and hugged, Harry feeling some tears threatening to spill out. His identical son was beginning his adventure, whatever may come. It made him miss the old days.

Albus and the others said their last goodbyes before hopping onto the train.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all watched as the train pulled away, Albus leaning out of the window of his compartment he shared with Rose, James, Victoire, and Nick Kragoff.

He smiled to himself as his father waved.

His adventure had begun.

…

Scorpius pulled his heavy trunk through the corridor before simply putting it with a group of other luggage that people wouldn't be bothering to take into their compartments. He looked around nervously. He didn't know anybody. Who was he supposed to sit with? As he thought frantically about perhaps making up a fake name and praying nobody saw the resemblance, Scorpius did not notice the two angry looking boys standing directly behind him.

…

The train sped through fields of green as Albus and the others sat and talked. Finally, James and Victoire stood.

"Well, I'm off to go hang out with some people my age," James announced. "See you."

He and the seventh year walked out of the compartment, James beginning to question her about her relationship with his older god-brother, leaving Albus and Rose in a silence with Nick.

"So," Rose began. "How are you, Nick?"

Nick had dark brown hair like his father, the Minister of Magic, Jacob Kragoff. Jacob was an old school friend of Al's and Rose's parents, back in the days of the war. He had fought bravely in the Battle of Hogwarts, earning recognition as a war hero. His son was as over shadowed as Rose and Albus were.

"I'm fine. Hung out with Uncle Chad most of the summer. Pretty fun, but I'm glad to be finally going to Hogwarts."

"Same here," Rose said. "I just wonder what house I'll be in. I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be very bad at all, but Gryffindor sounds by far the best. As long as it isn't-,"

"Slytherin," Albus finished darkly and with menace.

Rose and Nick looked over at him.

"Um, yeah," said Rose.

Before she could continue, Albus started with

"James, however, seems to think I'm perfect for Slytherin. It seems to be the best house for me in his opinion. I mean, when did I ever strike anyone as a Sl...Slytherin? When?"

Rose and Nick were silent when he finished.

"I'll be back," Rose told them. "Hang on."

She stood up and walked out.

"Wait, are you gonna get candy from the trolley?" Nick asked as she left.

She didn't answer but instead moved out of the compartment and into where James and his friends were sitting.

"James," Rose said as she opened the door. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure thing, Rosie," he answered, smirking as Rose rolled her eyes at her mother's nickname for her.

"Did you tell Albus that he'd be sorted into Slytherin?" she questioned.

"What? No," he retorted. After a silence, he muttered

"Well, a little."

"Listen, you've got to talk to him. He's really upset and seems to think that he's going to end up in it. And I kind of decided to end this before it becomes a whole annoying thing-,"

"Rose. I'm not talking to the kid. He'll be fine. He's not gonna end up in Slytherin, I was only joking with him. Anyway, if he decides to make this into a big thing, that's his damn problem. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go hang out with friends. Bye, cuz."

He walked back into his compartment.

Rose rolled her eyed again, crossing her arms.

"Honestly," she muttered.

She walked back over to her compartment, Nick asking where she had gone.

"I just went to talk to somebody," she muttered.

After a few minutes, in which an old man came by with the candy trolley, Albus went into an animated conversation with Nick about how the Chudley Cannons were becoming a fairly decent team.

"Uncle Ron actually wanted to be on their team, didn't he Rose?"

She smiled.

"Yes, I remember, Al."

"A lone voice standing out in a group of haters for a terrible team, he was," Nick joshed in mock admiration.

As Nick prepared for his speech on why they used to be such a bad team, the compartment door slid open, two teenage boys in fifth or sixth year dragging a small blonde figure in their arms.

"In," one commanded sternly.

They tossed him in, the boy hitting the train floor hard. He was dressed in very thin, grey clothes, his pants short and tight around his bare, pale ankles.

The older students suddenly seemed to notice the other three children, all related to war heroes, one hero now being the actual Minister along with the other being Harry Potter! Surprised, one smiled and said

"Sorry. We just needed to show HIM his place."

He looked at the boy with disgust on his face.

"See you, then," the other one muttered as they walked out, allowing the door to slide shut.

Nick got down on the floor, helping the blonde boy to his knees. He had a tear stained face and a red mark on his left cheek where he had been punched. Only then, did Rose realize who he had to be.

"You're Scorpius Malfoy, aren't you?"

He looked at her, quickly whipping the tears out of his eyes.

"Y...yeah," he replied, shakily. "Unfortunately."

He turned to leave before Albus said something Rose had not expected.

"Wait, why don't you hang out here?" he asked.

The others eyed him, Scorpius responding with

"Why would you want to ride with me? I'm just a worthless little Malfoy."

He did not say the words rudely, but sounded more sad and lonely.

"Well, our parents forgave your dad when they started working with him at the Ministry," Albus explained, leaning in. "So why not try for a friendship?"

Scorpius considered this.

After a minute, he extended his hand and Albus shook it.

"Scorpius Malfoy," he introduced.

"Albus Potter," Al said. "This is Nick Kragoff and my cousin, Rose Weasley."

Scorpius smiled at Rose. She returned it. He sat down next to Nick, across from Rose and Al. The four sat in a silence for a while before Albus sent the other two boys into a lengthy conversation about Quidditch. That was usually a topic one could rely on to interest others during an awkward silence.

After a lone while, two other sixth years opened the compartment door, making Scorpius cringe slightly at the sight of menacing older kids. He soon relaxed when he noticed the kind expressions they had on their faces. They looked rather friendly.

The taller one had long, black hair that curled on the sides with skin much to tan for any normal British person. He, like his friend, was wearing a Muggle hoody jacket. The other boy was smaller, but by no means short, with long brown hair that settled around his head like a mop. He was paler but had a bit of a cocky smile, like he was more of a jokester most of the time. The taller one greeted them.

"'Ello, there," he said in a cockney accent. "Whas' this we got 'ere, Jacob? A bunch of ickle first years?"

"Shut up, Stintin," Albus replied, smiling.

"You've got my dad's first name?" Nick asked the smaller boy.

"Yep, but I wouldn't say I'm named after him. I'm Muggle Born," Jacob answered. He spoke with an American accent and Rose decided to ask him where he was from.

"North Carolina, in the United States," he told.

"You're from the states?" Albus said, looking impressed.

"Yep," cockney Martin put in. "We've got ourselves a real full bread American right here, then. Not a drop of British blood in 'im."

"For the last time, Martin, I'm pretty sure I'm related to the British Muggle who invented Penicillin," Jacob said, annoyed.

Martin waved a hand.

"Fine, then. He hasn't got a drop of Magic blood in 'im."

"Well, obviously not from my family, but I have some for myself seeing as I'm a Wizard," Jacob corrected, comically smiling as Martin rolled his eyes, taking a seat next to Albus.

"How's your brother, then?" he inquired.

"An ass as usual" Albus said.

"Good," Martin responded. "That means he's healthy."

"Nothing like being a bit of an asshole when you have to be," Jacob joked, swinging an arm around Martin. The two were loud and very entertaining.

"Well, do you have any brothers of your own, Jacob?" Rose said to him.

"Three," he responded. "Two older brothers, twins, who were two years older than I am, and one little bro who is-," he looked around, "-not here right now. You'll meet him later on, he's only a year older than the four of you."

"Try having four brothers," Nick muttered, glumly. "One older one, who is about twenty, two younger brothers, twins who are five years younger, and one baby brother, ten years younger."

"My dad grew up the second youngest of a group of seven kids, with him having five brothers and one sister," Rose commented. "Top that."

"I heard about a family of twenty kids, Ms. Weasley," Jacob informed. "Let's pray to God that nobody has topped THAT. If they have, it's official. People are having WAY to much sex."

The younger kids laughed at the joke, Jacob and Martin both grinning broadly. Just then, Jacob noticed Scorpius and said

"And you are-,"

There was a pause where Scorpius looked too nervous to answer.

"I'm…," he began.

"Scorpius Malfoy," Rose Weasley finished.

"Ah, the son of a Death Eater," Martin said, not looking angry at all. More like he didn't really even care. "Good to know."

"Careful, he might be dangerous," Jacob warned jokingly, pointing a serious finger at Scorpius. He then shouted in a totally outrages rough British accent with a deep voice-, "YOU SIR! YOU ARE ACCUSED OF A CRIME OF BEING THE SON OF A MAN ACCUSED OF THE CRIME OF BEING THE SON OF A MAN WITH MUCH LONGER HAIR ACCUSED OF THE CRIME OF ASSOCIATING WITH A MAN ACCUSED OF THE CRIME OF DOING A LOT OF STUFF THAT ENDED UP IN A WAR. WHAT IS YOUR DEFENSE, SIR?"

Scorpius smiled, relieved that the two jokers didn't seem to feel any hatred toward him at all. They seemed happy for an excuse to make jokes involving talking in fake accents.

"WE MUST QUESTION, SIR!" Martin shouted in the same fake, comical accent.

"I MUST AGREE, MY STRANGELEY TAN COMPANION," Jacob shouted back. "A FULL CAVITY SEARCH ON THE LAD. STRIP DOWN HIS PANTS AND UNDERGARMENTS AND CHECK HIS PENILE AREA FOR ANY DANGEROUS WEAPONS!"

The two boys picked up the laughing child and began tickling him until he could bare it no longer. The other three first years howled with laughter at the entertaining teenagers until another person came in and stopped them all.

"What the hell is going on in here?" said the teenage boy who had walked in. He was fairly tall with long, dirty blonde hair and pale skin. His eyes were bright blue and he looked very confused at what he was seeing.

"Ah, Lysander," Jacob quickly greeted in a much lighter but still very false British voice. He straightened up quickly as if nothing had happened, Martin copying him, the two still clutching the giggling Scorpius, adding more comedy to the scene and making the other three children laugh even harder.

"Seriously, why the hell are you already torturing first year students with your damn jokes?" he said, not looking cross but bewildered and unsurprised.

"We are not torturing," Jacob explained, sounding serious and still speaking quickly. "We are merely performing a cavity search on this young boy who is believed to be a Death Eater because of his questionable ancestry."

"Hm, yes. Would you like to assist us?" Martin asked in a mocking voice of an upper-class British gentleman. "It is quite good fun."

"What the hell are you talking about, 'questionable ancestry'? My dad is the grandson of some author of a boring Hogwarts textbook and my mother is a quite blonde woman who used to creep the hell out of people by talking about nargles and snork-axes and all sorts of other stuff that doesn't exist. I'm almost afraid to ask how weird HIS parents are."

He gestured at Scorpius, whose smile had faded away not.

"This is the son of Count Dracula," Jacob introduced.

"Oh, cut the crap and quit fuc-,"

"Language, language in front of the children, dear Lysander," Martin interrupted, waving a finger in front of his face. "You'll give them bad ideas and that's OUR job."

"I was only joking, of course. This is the son of- not Dracula- but DRACO. Draco Malfoy of the…well, the Malfoy family."

Lysander was quiet for a moment, making Scorpius nervous. The smiles on the other first years only returned slightly when Jacob said

"Do not fear, my dearest Scamander. This boy is almost harmless. We're training him not to bite people."

"And he's getting the hang of it," Martin added.

Lysander rolled his eyes and gave a distasteful look down at Scorpius, before walking away from the compartment.

Scorpius hung his head in shame and the others looked down sadly at him.

"Hey," Jacob began, gently pulling the boy's face up to look at him. "Chin up, kid. Lysander's just like that with people. He's always in a bad mood because people always tell him off whenever he makes fun of his twin brother, Lorcan and makes him feel put down. To tell the truth, his brother's a bit of a wimp. Sometimes a little shy."

"But everybody's like that to me," Scorpius said back.

The others were quiet as Jacob smiled down at Scorpius in an almost older-brotherly sort of way.

"Oh, don't worry. That's all just bullsh-,"

"Aht!" Martin interjected.

"I mean, that's pish and tosh," Jacob said, catching himself. "The kids here will learn that you're nothing like your dad. Besides, he's turned into a pretty good man these days. I'm sure you'll do great here."

He ruffled Scorpius's hair and the little boy smiled.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Jacob countered, speaking in his normal American accent again. "Just keep optimistic and come find one me or Martin if anybody gives you any trouble."

The two opened the door and stepped out, smiling at the first years before walking away.

…

The light outside slowly began to fade as the sun retired away from sight.

It was nearly eight o'clock by the time they reached the small Wizarding village of Hogsmeade. When they pulled into the station, Albus, Scorpius, Rose, and Nick walked off, dressed in black school robes. They walked alongside the older students until they saw a massive figure walking toward them, dressed in a humongous brown overcoat with a large black beard that mostly obscured his face. He was maybe eight feet tall.

"Firs' years!" he boomed. "Firs' years! Come on, firs' years this way!"

It was Hagrid. He was carrying a large, heavy lamp in his left hand, gesturing with his right for the eleven year old children to follow.

"Hagrid," Albus said as they walked up to him.

"Well, well. Looks like Albus Potter decided to show," Hagrid laughed. "You could be yer dad's twin. It'd be like the old days. You'll have a right good time...eh...trust me."

He put on his smile and turned away from them. Rose thought she knew why he seemed hesitant. He had once said the same thing to Harry. It had only taken four years for things to take a turn for the worst.

Hagrid led the first years through the station and to a dock with several small boats waiting for them. They piled in, four children in each boat, and begun to sail through the large, mountain surrounded lake.

Albus sat in a boat with Nick, Scorpius, and Rose. As they slowly sailed around a dark hill, they saw Hogwarts school for the first time. A gigantic castle with brilliantly lit windows, giving off a strong bright light that eliminated the black lake. There were oohs and awes from the other first years as their eyes were glued to their new home.

They sailed into a large glass boathouse, the boats seeming to stop themselves and holding their place. As the first years clambered out, Hagrid checked the boats for any items that may have been left behind.

When he was finished, he stood up and called

"Alright, then. Let's get up ter the school!"

He led the students up a large stone staircase that spiraled up the mountain side, leading up into a cobblestone courtyard which sat directly in front of two large double doors seated at the bottom of the large school.

They all stood behind Hagrid, who raised a hand the size of Al's head, and knocked three times.

The doors swung backward, away from the students and they saw a tall man in long black robes that looked like they were from ancient times like when Hogwarts had first opened, perhaps. The man wearing them, however, was much younger than that. He was skinny with short dirty blonde hair that hung over half his forehead. He had an odd expression on his face, like his mouth had been stretched too far from side to side. His eyes were a little too wide and he nodded when he saw them all. Rose felt like she was looking at a mad scientist of some sort.

When he spoke, the man's mouth looked more normal.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," he greeted. "Thank you for bringing them, Hagrid."

"Welcome, Professor," Hagrid replied, slipping through two more double doors behind the strange looking Professor.

"Now," the man continued. "My name is Professor Moses. I am the Deputy Head to our Headmaster. Here at Hogwarts, rules are to be followed. There are four houses. Gryffindor-,"

The Potter/Weasley clan smiled to themselves.

"Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin."

Scorpius shifted rather uncomfortably.

"Your house will be much like your family and good deeds shall earn you points. Rule breaking shall lose you points. At the end of the year, which ever house has the most points shall win the House Cup. Now, if you'll all kindly wait out here for a few minutes."

Professor Moses turned away from them and opened one of the double doors a crack, slipping inside and closing it before any of them could catch a glimpse of the immaculate Great Hall.

The large group of first years waited intently for what seemed like hours instead of minutes. In the pool of uncertain, nervous faces there were some calm expressions, completely confident of which house they would end up in. This was not the look of Albus, Scorpius, Rose, or Nick. The four of them all looked anxious, wondering if they even wanted Professor Moses to return, taking them to what would surely be humiliation. And here Albus was, wondering if James had been right all along about Slytherin.

They waited for a few minutes longer, some whispering emitting from other students, before the dark cloaked man reappeared. He looked at them all with those wide eyes.

"Attention, first years," he said in that strange voice. "You may now enter the Great Hall for your sorting."

The doors slowly swung open, showing the students the beautiful dining area. It was the largest room Scorpius had ever seen with floating candles covering them overhead beneath a large ceiling that showed the cloudy night sky. It was brilliantly lit, torches hung along the walls and four long tables in the middle, with a large gap in the middle for walking. There was a small wooden stage at the back of the room with the longest table out of the others. It had all of the staff seated at it and they were all (most of them) smiling warmly as the new students filed in, some looking scared while most forgot their fears of sorting to stare at the brilliant place that would serve as their eating area.

In the middle of the Head table, seated in a large gold colored thrown like chair was a man wearing long, red robes. He had a long silver beard and equally long hair. The strange thing about his hair was how it seemed to shimmer, looking like it was made of unicorn hair instead of the normal scratchy hairs men usually wore for beards.

He had pale skin and a cheery smile. Albus wondered if this was similar to what Dumbledore looked like when he was alive, then he remembered that he had seen the dead Headmaster in a picture of a chocolate frog card. He hadn't had silvery, shinning hair like this man did. This had to be their Head Master, Professor Greystash.

On the stage, up the small steps, was an old stool with an even older hat that sat on top of it. It was dark brown, basically black now, with several wholes and tears in it. The first years all gathered at the steps and waited.

The hat began to move, it's top standing up, erecting itself. The brim opened up as if it were a mouth, two large wrinkles looking like dark eyes. It began, in an old and weathered deep voice, to sing.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry Potter: The Next Generation

CHAPTER TWO: THE UNEXPECTED HOUSE

Albus held his breath in anticipation as the sorting hat finished his song, receiving loud applause from the older students. It settled and the hat looked like a normal, old and ugly piece of headwear. Professor Moses picked it up and glanced at the long scroll he was holding.

"When your name is called," he said to the first years. "You will sit on the stool and be sorted into your house."

He glanced again at the hat and read

"Burk Anderson."

A tall boy with an expressionless face with short, slightly spiked black hair sat on the stool. The hat sat in silence for a moment on top of the boy's dark haired head before it proclaimed "GRYFFINDOR!"

The second table on the left from the head table's point of view cheered and clapped as the boy quickly sped to his seat, his face the same.

"Mary Aldersheart," Moses called.

A skinny girl with blonde hair and pale skin sat on the stool.

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat yelled as soon as it was placed on her head.

After two more students, one Hufflepuff and one Slytherin, Moses called "Kyle Creevy!"

A small boy with short dirty blonde hair, freckles, and an excited look sat and was sorted into Gryffindor. Ecstatic, he ran to sit next to Burk who seemed to know him well.

As the two high fived, Scorpius caught the eye of Jacob, who winked.

After several more students, with the next few Gryffindors only being girls, Nick was called to sit on the stool.

The hat thought for a moment and then yelled "GRYFFINDOR!"

He ran to his seat, quickly high fiving Albus before he sat at the Gryffindor table.

More students were sorted, and then…

"Albus Potter!"

Albus flinched slightly at his name, before slowly stepping up to the stool and sitting down.

The hat nearly knocked his glasses off as it was placed over his eyes.

Well, well, said the voice of the hat in his head. I was wondering when YOU would come along. You are nothing like your older brother, no, he is much more like his grandfather, his namesake. You, however, do not only look exactly like your father, but you also share an identical mind. Your thoughts are the same, you are a brave and noble person. But do not worry, you will not be tried nearly as much as your father was. Heavens, no. But there will be smaller conflicts and I know exactly where you belong to deal with those. It is amusing to hear you thinking "Not Slytherin" just as your father did. Your father was the first one I ever was confused with, and I almost put him in the wrong house. I shall not even hesitate with you to put you where you rightfully belong. Better be….

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Great Hall exploded with cheers as Albus joyfully ran to get a seat at his table, Jacob and Martin shouting "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

James clapped his brother on the back and even ruffled his untidy black hair.

"Scorpius Malfoy!"

The Great Hall went dead silent, except for some angry muttering. Scorpius felt the glares come from almost around the entire hall, even from the Slytherin table. Scorpius felt as if he was standing naked in front of the entire school and he felt his face go from pale white to ruby red from the embarrassment and humiliation. He sat on the stool, noting the older boys he could see cracking their knuckles, and he waited with baited breath as the hat was placed upon his head, covering his eyes and excluding the Great Hall from his gaze. The hat chuckled in his mind.

Welcome to Hogwarts, Mr. Malfoy. You are most intriguing to me, nothing at all like your father or any Malfoy I have ever encountered. It puts me in a strange place. Where will you belong? Who will accept you? I cannot answer these directly to you. You must discover them on your own. Do not be shocked when I give you your house. It will shock others. An unexpected house, Mr. Malfoy. But I promise you, it is where you truly belong.

Everyone waited, knowing they would hear the cry of Slytherin. But why was it taking so long? Albus sat there, nervously fidgeting in his seat. The Ghosts had no breath to hold but seemed to be tensing. After a minute, the hat straightened up and yelled to the hall

"GRYFFINDOR!"

There was a stunned silence from the entire hall, nobody saying anything. Albus was smiling at Scorpius until he noticed that nobody else was. The entire Gryffindor table, and the other tables as well, were all looking at Scorpius as if he were nothing more than a blast ended screwt. Scorpius slowly walked toward them. The teachers were brought suddenly out of their shock and had begun clapping, hoping others would join in. Many did, but did not look happy about it, others simply continued to glare. Albus, Jacob, and Martin all clapped enthusiastically, along with the two boys Kyle and Burk and a couple of other first year girls. Scorpius sat next to Albus, his face red, wishing that he could have been born to any family here, ANY family, except his own.

Soon, more students had been sorted, including a pretty, blonde girl named Sarah Watson. After her, Rose was sorted.

Both Sarah and Rose were sorted into Gryffindor and after a couple of more Slytherins, and the hat was carried away along with the stool. After that, Professor Greystash stood and walked to the speaking podium that stood on a tall marble pole and had a gold book on top of it with a small statue of a golden owl under it.

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" he greeted in a loud but soft and slightly high voice. "For those of you who are either new or just not good with names, I am Professor Greystash, your headmaster. Now, Hogwarts is a wonderful school with much history to it, but I must ask you not to tread to where you are not allowed. Firstly, the forbidden forest is…well…forbidden. There are many dark creatures living there that would not take kindly to students walking through their home. Also, the Astronomy tower is off limits besides classes. Places such as the Owlary, the Quidditch pitch, the courtyards, and the trophy room are only allowed to be visited when classes are NOT in session for you. You may visit on free time, weekends, and afternoons. Also, any student caught out of bed after hours will be given a detention. No magic in the corridors between classes, no dueling each other in any way, and no trouble making during lessons. Now, the house elves in the kitchens have prepared a delicious feast that I say we should now enjoy. Thank you."

He waved his right hand quickly through the air and immediately, a gigantic feast like none of them had ever seen before appeared on all of the tables.

Albus was astonished as he stared at the food in front of him. There was everything he could think of. Chicken, beef, soup, stake, eggrolls, pizza, quall, duck, dumplings, salad, lamb, all kinds of pork, turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes with butter, spinach, broccoli, muscle, and even what looked strangely like pepper. That was only a small portion.

The students all piled their plates high with whatever they could eat, the stomachs seeming to expand as they did so. Albus, Scorpius, Rose, and Nick all sat in dynamic conversation.

"I'm personally looking forward to Transfiguration class," Rose said. "Mum always told me that it was by far one of the best along with Charms and Ancient Runes, which I'll definitely be taking once we get to third year."

"I'm just glad that it isn't only third years and above who are allowed to go to Hogsmeade like it used to be," Nick commented. "Now, Hogwarts may be big and brilliant but I probably wouldn't want to be stuck in here all the time."

"Well," Albus began. "There is always Christmas holiday. Rose and I are definitely going home for that."

"Are you going home for Christmas, Scorpius?" Rose asked.

Scorpius was silent for a short moment, not knowing what to answer. Now that he thought of it, he most certainly did not want to go home for the holidays.

"I don't know," he answered. "But I've got about two months to think about it, don't I?"

"Yeah, no problem," Albus said, smiling.

"Just don't talk like that when we start getting exams homework," Rose interjected. "Procrastination is usually what helps make your grades slip."

"Procrasti-what?" Scorpius, Albus, and Nick all said at once.

Rose rolled her eyes.

Honestly!

As they continued to eat, they heard Jacob and Martin talking with other older students.

"Well, I still haven't really decided when to hold trials, yet," they heard Jacob say. "Remember, I've never actually been a Quidditch captain before."

"Well, how about on some weekend that's coming up soon?" Martin put in.

"Sounds good," they heard James say. "I'm finally gonna try out."

"What'll you be going for?" they heard Joey ask.

"Probably a chaser," James replied.

"And he'll get it too, mind you," Albus said to his friends. "James has been practicing non-stop since he got home for the summer. Practicing with Dad and our cousins at the Burrow."

"Do your grandparents still live there?" Scorpius inquired.

"Yep," said Al.

"They'll never let go of that place," Rose said. "It's their home ever since a little before Uncle Bill was born."

"Speaking of Uncle Bill," Albus interrupted. "Can you believe Victoire is going out with Teddy?"

"They may not be going out," Rose suggested.

"What do you mean by that?" came James' voice.

They all looked over to see him looking at the group.

"I saw them snogging, Rose," James reminded.

"Yeah, explain that," Nick said as Jacob and Martin scrunched up their eyes and put their index and thumb fingers under their chins in a v shape, mocking hard thinking.

"I don't know," Rose started. "Heat of the moment?"

The others burst into flamboyant laughter, except for Scorpius who stopped when he saw James and Joey both glare at him.

After their large dinner was eaten, large amounts of desert appeared before them. Towers of ice cream, pounds of chocolate animals sitting on the tables, bowls filled to the brim with pudding. Forgetting the fullness in their stomachs, all of the students began to dive in, shoveling the sweetness first onto their plates and then into their mouths.

Minutes after, the whole hall sat there, their bellies looking like they had expanded largely in the past couple of hours. Many felt slightly ill, but most were massaging the stomachs with large, tired grins on their faces.

Professor Greystash moved to the speaking podium, looking well fed.

"Well, I hope we all enjoyed that excellent feast," he spoke. "But now, a day of classes awaits you tomorrow and I suggest that you all get a very good night sleep. If the first years will please follow the prefects to your house common room. Have a good night, everyone."

He walked away as the entire hall began to stand and walk towards the large doors.

As they walked into the Entrance Hall, Scorpius began to inch closer to Albus, looking up at the glowering faces of the older students. He should have known how angry they'd have been.

He, Rose, and Albus all followed two prefects for Gryffindor, a boy and a girl. The students were all led up an extremely large group of staircases that all kept shifting into different possessions. When they finally made it to the top, the group stopped in front of a portrait with a rather large lady sitting in it, wearing a long white robe.

"Password?" she inquired, surprising many of the Muggle-borns.

"Variety," the boy Prefect stated.

The portrait swung forward, allowing the students inside.

They all looked around in wonder at the beautiful common room. It was not as large as Albus had imagined but it seemed to do very nicely. It was draped in red and gold curtains with designs of lions and warriors. There were two small tables on either side of the room, both surrounded by chairs. There was a large fireplace with the Hogwarts crest above it and a large couch seated in front of it. The couch had two arm chairs on either side, one small and the other large.

Older students were all sitting around, talking and laughing with one another. That is, until they caught sight of their newest members.

Why are they all staring at us? Scorpius wondered in his head. Then it hit him. They were not staring at the first years, but at HIM. A Malfoy in Gryffindor? It was sure to start up speculation and even anger. No, definitely anger, judging by the way they were all glaring at him.

Jacob, Martin, and a few pretty girls seemed to be the only ones not bothered by Scorpius' arrival. Albus looked from his brother's furious gaze to his new friend's terrified and fairly nervous expression.

"Well? What the hell are YOU doing here, Malfoy?" James questioned with menace.

Many other students were standing, some cracking knuckles, others simply glaring or even looking gleeful at the promise of James beating the young Malfoy to a pulp.

"I…uh…er…I..," Scorpius stammered, tensely. He felt his pale face grow red hot and almost wished that he had never even come.

"Finding it hard to answer?" James shouted. "Well?"

Scorpius could not speak, petrified at the looks he was receiving. He just stared back with wide, scared eyes.

"Leave him alone, James!" Albus yelled back.

Several older students gasped while others gawked at Albus like he was something they had never seen before.

James rounded on his younger sibling.

"And you! I mean, what the hell do you think you're doing? Just because Dad and Uncle Ron worked with his father at the Ministry does NOT mean that you can just go and fraternize with him!"

"James, dude. Relax," Jacob began.

"Stay out of this, Fleming!" James snapped.

Jacob suddenly looked angry.

"Don't get pissy with me, Potter! You're starting a scene and-,"

"What if we want a scene, then?" a short boy with dark brown hair and a strong, Australian accent put in, angrily.

Others yelled with agreement.

Scorpius felt himself wince as others began to argue before a girl with long, messy hair and a stern face shouted "Stop!"

Everyone quieted down and looked at her, James looking irritated.

"What is it, Bonnie?" he said.

"Don't you all think you're over reacting just a little bit?"

"No," many replied.

"Well, think about it this way. Just because his father did some terrible things doesn't mean that he should be treated like this!"

"His father was a traitor and a bastard! We're sick of Malfoy's always getting off the hook!" another boy shouted. "I mean, this kid's grandfather managed to escape from being imprisoned after You-Know-Who fell the first time and he's still walking about just because he's finished his _sentence! _ And then we have Draco Malfoy who basically as good as murders Albus Dumbledore and now he's working with the Minister of Magic? Why should this kid even be here? I bet he's gonna just follow in their footsteps!"

"Then explain why he's in Gryffindor!" Bonnie retaliated.

"So was Peter Pettigrew, but he betrayed my grandparents to Voldemort," James growled. "It doesn't matter what house he's in!"

"Well, why are you all judging him when you haven't really even met him?" Rose demanded. "I've been talking with him ever since we got on the Hogwarts Express and I don't think he's anything like his father or grandfather!"

The room silenced as they all looked at Rose. She had made a decent point.

Scorpius still had said nothing. Albus gripped his shoulder hard, trying to keep him calm from the embarrassment.

"I have an idea," Martin exclaimed, standing. "What if we give this kid a little try out, then? Let him prove he's a Gryffindor. You know, act like one for this year and if he proves that he's nothing like his criminal of a father, then we stop treating 'im like he is."

Some nodded at this and the angry fourteen year old looked down at Scorpius with anger.

"Fine," he agreed, reluctantly. "You can try out, Malfoy. But if you so much as even mutter something that sounds even a little bit Slytherin…well, let's just say the rest of your days at Hogwarts are gonna be a living hell."

Others made noise of agreement and began to walk around the room, either up the stairs to their dormitories or to sit in the good seats by the fire. They roughly shoved Scorpius aside as they went.

He took one look at a concerned Jacob and began to quickly walk up the stairs to his dorm. He moved quickly, feeling the tears sting his eyes.

He went through the boys' door and found himself in a small hallway. He took one look at the door labeled "First Years" and entered.

He saw his luggage sitting around the bed nearest to the door, on his right side. He quickly jumped on top of it and turned over to face the ceiling, allowing the tears to flow down his face as he quietly cried.

He sat there for what felt like an hour before the door opened and someone walked in. Scorpius had closed the hangings all around his bed, and prayed that whoever it was would just go away.

"Scorp, are you in here?" he heard Albus say.

The curtains to his left where slowly opened and Scorpius saw the small boy with the long, dark hair and the lily green eyes behind the glasses. Albus smiled understandingly as he saw the tear stained, pale face of the small blonde boy sitting on the bed, hugging his skinny knees to his chest.

"Hi," they both said.

After a slightly awkward pause, Albus sat on the bed as well and spoke softly.

"You know, my brother's an ass. But he'll come 'round. He always does."

"Has he ever been that angry before?" Scorpius questioned.

Albus shook his head.

"No," he answered. Then, he paused again before speaking. "You know, at home…he does bully me a lot. I guess that's just what brothers do. Most of the time these days, he ignores me. 'Goes to hang out with other teenagers most of the time. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Scorpius shook his head.

"None," he muttered. "I've been alone all my life except for my parents and a couple of cousins on my mother's side. She had a twin sister. I…never really got along with them. Or any other kids that I may have met. I would have hung out with Muggles but my father hardly ever let me."

Albus suddenly understood how lonely Scorpius had been. There was no question about it, he had hardly ever played with any other children when he was little. Hogwarts could have been the place for him to finally meet friends. Unfortunately, everyone judged him on his father's actions. Well, Albus was going to make sure that it didn't end that way.

He put his right arm over Scorpius and whispered "You know, I've always wanted a brother my own age. Like a twin, almost."

They looked at each other and realized that the two boys had so much in common, no matter what they're parents thought of each other in the past.

"I guess if we get to know each other well enough, we'll sort of know what it's like," Scorpius muttered.

"Yeah," Albus agreed. "To have a twin brother. We'd be like Martin and Jacob, who aren't even related."

Scorpius nodded.

"Besides, any friend of mine is your friend, too," Albus assured. "And I plan on having a lot of friends."

They both began to laugh with each other and Scorpius soon felt his feelings of sadness wash away.

"Well, I'm sure you're gonna win this little 'How to be a Gryffindor' game, Scorp," Albus said.

There was that name again.

"I kind of like the sound of that nickname," Scorpius said. "Scorp, I mean."

"Well, I mean it is a lot better than Scorpius," Albus joked. "I mean, what kind of name is that?"

"Some constellation," Scorpius replied, laughing.

Suddenly, the door opened and the rest of the boys entered.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry Potter: The Next Generation

Chapter Three: Professor Longbottom's recollection

Three more first years stepped into the room, Nick among them. They all found their beds and began changing, getting ready for sleep.

"So, a bit dramatic down there, wasn't it?" asked a freckled boy with short, sandy hair. "I really couldn't believe just how angry everybody got. I mean, I'm not that much like my dad, though I can definitely act like it. I'm annoying but more in a fun way where as he was just annoying at school."

"Whose son are you?" inquired Nick.

"Dennis Creevy is my dad," the boy replied. "I'm Kyle."

"I'm Burk," said the boy next to him. "His twin."

Albus, Scorpius, and Nick all looked from one boy to the other.

"You don't look anything alike," Albus said. "Are you fraternal?"

"No, we're not really related," an amused Kyle explained. "Trust me, though. We've been friends since we were really little and people end up getting us mixed up anyway."

"I'm Burk," said the dark haired boy. He had an interesting complexion. His face was almost expressionless. Well, it had expression, but while looking cheerful, the others also couldn't seem to tell what he was feeling.

"Nice to meet you," Albus said. "I'm Albus, this is Scorpius."

"We know," the two boys said together, smiling. Scorpius felt sort of embarrassed.

"Well, I'm gonna go brush my teeth downstairs," Nick announced, getting up.

"I'll come with you," Albus told him.

They both walked down, their bare feet slightly cold on the floor. They entered the large bathroom, and proceeded to the large stone block with the dozen or so sinks attached to it, shaped in a large circle. There were stalls lined around the walls of the rest of the room and two doors spread apart on the one blank wall. The one on the left read "Boys' shower" and the one on the right read "Girls' shower."

They could hear water running behind both doors as people washed up. Albus hoped that there were stalls in the showers too, as he would be taking one in the morning before classes.

The two boys brushed their teeth, both tired and ready to retire.

When they had finished, they turned to leave when the boys' door opened and a tall teen walked out.

James walked out, wearing a white towel around his waist, covering the lower half of his body. He wore the silver necklace that Teddy had giving him, saying that it used to belong to Remus Lupin who had acquired it from Sirius Black.

He shook the water out of his shaggy black hair and put his glasses back on. He looked at Albus and glared at his younger brother.

"Just here to get some shampoo," he muttered.

He took a bottle out of a cabinet above one of the sinks and walked back through the door to the shower room.

Albus turned and quickly walked out of the bathroom.

In the common room, neither boy mentioned the glare James had worn on his face.

"Well, it's been a long day and I'm flipping tired," Nick yawned. "I'm going to bed."

"I'm just gonna sit down here for a bit and think," Albus mentioned.

"What if James comes out and glares at you again?"

After a short pause, Albus replied with

"Good point. I'm for bed to."

They walked up the stairs and to their dormitories.

…

The next morning dawned brightly.

Albus rolled over in his bed to see Scorpius above him, still in his pajamas, looking at him.

"Might wanna wake up," he said.

"What time is it?" muttered a sleepy Burk in the bed nearest to them.

"About Seven O'clock," Scorpius answered.

"Five more minutes," said Burk, rolling over.

"I'm gonna go take a quick shower," Albus decided, getting out of bed. "We need to be at breakfast by Seven Thirty."

"That means you need to wake up too, Burk," Kyle said.

He was already fully dressed in his uniform, pulling on his thin, black robes.

"See you at breakfast," he told them, exiting the room.

Albus quickly retrieved his toiletries and sped down to the showers. After he had washed, including brushing his teeth after waiting in a length line, he speedily dressed, seeing that he was late for breakfast.

"I need to get up earlier," he said as he and Albus walked down the staircase.

The Main Stairway was loud now that it was daytime with the sound of students and portrait's echoing conversations.

"Good morning," greeted an excited looking red head who emerged from the crowd of Gryffindors to stand next to them.

"I'm guessing you got up around six, then?" Albus asked Rose.

"Well, five thirty, actually," she said back. "I really wanted to get up early so that I could get ready and do some last minute studying."

"Last minute- Rose, it's the first day of classes!" Albus nearly shouted in shock.

"I know," she said, wearing an expression as if Albus had lost his mind. "I don't want to go in there acting like an idiot, do I?"

Scorpius found himself wondering if _he _would look like an idiot on the first day.

"This is my friend Sarah," Rose introduced, gesturing toward a pretty girl with long, blonde hair.

Nick, Albus, and Scorpius found themselves in an animated conversation about their upcoming classes as Burk laughed at Kyle's expression as he stared at Sarah.

He noticed this and quickly stared at the steps beneath him.

They entered the Great Hall, loud with enthusiastic talk, the ceiling showing an excellent, bright sky.

A tall ghost with a fairly deep and cheery tone smiled and greeted them warmly.

"I look forward to getting to know you, Albus," the ghost said. "Your elder brother is as comical and entertaining as his namesake and you look exactly like your father, who looked exactly like his father, come to think of it."

"He's taller than Uncle Harry was at this age, though," Rose reminded him.

"Ah, yes. And feel free to call me whenever you may need assistance in direction. Ghosts know when they are needed. My name is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porptington. I am at your service. But, everyone around here calls me Nick. I am the Gryffindor House Ghost."

"Nick, as in _Nearly Headless _Nick?" Kyle asked, awed.

Nick stiffened as if the title caused him discomfort.

"I do not answer to that," he replied, sounding rather irritated. "Anyway, nice meeting you all."

He gave Scorp a weird look and rose into the air, vanishing in the light.

"He's weird," Sarah commented.

"Yeah, well. Let's eat, I'm starving and the bell's gonna be ringing in a bit," said Nick. "Now I'm a little annoyed at having a ghost with my same name. Well, call him Nicholas for me so that I don't get confused, okay?"

The others nodded as they took their seats at the Gryffindor table.

The bell rung ten minutes later and they wolfed down the rest of their food, making mental notes to get down to breakfast earlier.

They all briskly walked outside into the entrance courtyard.

It was made of brick and stone and there were benches in different areas. It had a beautiful view and was directly next to a large, thick bridge that led to what looked like a smaller version of the entrance doors.

The students followed the other Hogwartians who were walking up the stairs and through the large, this time silver colored double doors. There was a smaller entrance hall inside with a short staircase directly in the middle.

"This is almost exactly what the main entrance looked like at my old school back in America," they heard Jacob say to someone. "Except that hall was a lot bigger and had more side chambers. Also, you'd think that caretaker, Jeremy, would clean up these cobwebs on that bookshelf."

The pretty girl he was talking to agreed with him, taking out her wand and making the spider invested webs vanish.

Scorp saw Rose relax when the webs vanished. She had probably inherited her father's fear of them.

They walked through a small entrance to the left of the stairway and sped down the spiral stairs into the dark, cold, and slightly wet dungeons.

"Kind of chilly down here, isn't it?" Scorp said.

The others nodded.

When they reached the bottom, they found themselves in a small corridor leading to more dungeons. The corridor was lit brightly by tall torches lining the walls. Directly in front of the first years was a door with the rest of the class waiting outside of it.

"Well," Albus began. "Now we get to see if Professor Moses is a fair teacher. James always said he was pretty awesome after their first year ended."

As they waited for the final bell to ring and for the door to open, a tall boy with a sneer on his tan face walked up to them, surrounded by a posse of Slytherins.

He had long, dirty blonde hair and brown eyes that looked slightly cruel.

"Well, I thought for sure you were gonna be in our house," the boy jeered, addressing Scorpius. "But, I guess you're just a secret agent then? Just like Daddy, right?"

His sinister looking group of friends all began laughing at Scorp who was caught by surprise at the sudden ambush. He was quickly getting over it and growing redder as well.

"I mean, why else would you be in that loser house, huh?" the boy questioned. "Felt like being a little pussy, did ya?"

"Oh, shut up, Skullfield," Sarah retorted.

"You know him?" Rose asked her.

"Yeah, Trevor Skullfield. Met him a couple years ago at some party," she answered. "He's a complete ass."

"Aw, how rude," another Slytherin boy mocked, receiving laughs from his fellows.

"So, why don't you try switching over to our side?" Skullfield said to Scorpius. "We're better anyway."

"What side are you talking about? Gays? No thanks, I'm straight," Scorpius shot back.

The Slytherins froze as the other Gryffindor students around them howled with laughter.

"Buzz off, Malfoy," Skullfield snapped, obviously unable to come up with a more suitable comeback.

Just as he said it, they heard the clock tower signal that it was Eight O'clock and the door was pulled open by Professor Moses.

"Well, time for class. Come in," he said to them all.

The Potions classroom was surprisingly small with jars of disgusting ingredients all over the shelves that completely covered the walls. There were five tables in the room, one in the middle with four more around it in their own corners. There was hardly any light in the room with only one window that barely showed the sun outside.

Everyone took their seats, all trying to sit with friends. Albus, Rose, Scorpius, and Nick all ended up at one table while Sarah, Kyle, and Burk sat together at the middle table with another Gryffindor girl who had long, dark brown hair, almost black.

"Welcome to Potions class," Professor Moses said, standing near his own seat before walking slowly amongst them. "This is a fairly dangerous class that combines subtle science along with powerful magic. You will very fairly ever have any need of your wands, so any of you who have taken them out may put them back where they belong."

A few confused Muggle-Borns hastily put their wands in their pockets, including Burk.

"Now, obviously we have a small room. It has always been this way and I don't want to hear any complaining," Moses continued. "This class will have you using fairly dangerous equipment so I will now go over our safety measures. First off, try you very upmost not to spill any type of Potion on the floor. If this should happen, you must all stand up on your seats while I clear the mess away with magic. You will be able to receive your supplies such as important ingredients and equipment either on these many shelves or in that cabinet over there next to the door."

He paused and then said

"No rough housing or you will be asked to leave immediately. House points will also be deducted. I will also never accept any arguments while you work. You are allowed to talk lightly as long as you pay attention to what you are doing. If this gets out of hand, I will decide that it is too distracting and may result in an accident and you will no longer be allowed to talk while we work. Anyone who has something spilled on them should come to me so that I may either decontaminate you or send you to the Hospital Wing with a partner. No exceptions to any of these rules. Understood?"

The class muttered yes in response.

"Good," Moses said, smiling. "Now, let us direct out attention to the blackboard. I have listed these ingredients that can also be found in your textbooks on page eighty nine. Today, you will be attempting to brew a fairly easy beginner potion that takes little to no time to make if you follow directions. It is a useful potion, however. The cure for boils."

They worked for the rest of the class, luckily with no spills, and finished with enough time to talk to each other. When they bell rang, they cleared away their supplies, putting their cauldrons in their bags, before racing off for their next class.

The Gryffindors had Charms class with the Ravenclaws next.

Their teacher was a stern Irish man with sandy hair and a tough attitude.

"In this class you will learn different spells that can either be looked on as fun or as fairly useful," their Professor, Mr. Finnegan as he liked to be called, said to them. "However, should you get it wrong, the results could be very bad indeed. Today, we shall be discussing and practicing the simplest charm, Wingardium Leviosa, the levitating spell."

Their next classes were Herbology, taught in the beautiful greenhouses by Professor Longbottom, Transfiguration, which they had after lunch, History of Magic, which would have been very interesting if not for the boring ghost who taught it, and Defense against the Dark Arts to end the day.

The Transfiguration classroom was fairly large with many desks seating in front of a very large platform for the teacher to instruct on. Their teacher was a pump woman with brown hair, a very cheerful face, and a pointed purple hat to go along with her long red robes.

"Well, hello, hello, hello," she greeted merrily. "I am looking forward to getting to work with you all. I am your Transfiguration teacher, Professor Barrymore. Now, as long as you all behave, I will be your friend and promise to make these classes enjoyable. However, I will discipline when needed and can quickly become a rather mean teacher. I hope not to be, so let's all try our best to behave. Now, this is a large class, but we haven't got any Slytherins to give us trouble. Kidding!"

She shouted the last word as the class began to laugh at the Slytherin pun.

Their next class, History, turned out to be more of a time to nap. Professor Binns, the ghost who taught the class, droned on and on about things they usually wouldn't care about, especially now. However, Scorpius found that when he tuned Binns out and simply read the history stories in his textbook by Bathilda Bagshot, that they were actually very interesting.

For the first term, they would be studying the Ancient Greeks and how they used they're magic. They would learn of the myths and how they were based on the creatures of today and how Wizards and Witches were believed to have been first created in Greece.

Scorpius finished the chapter long before Binns got through half of it and instead tuned him out again, daydreaming about Greek myths and legends. He thought them very entertaining.

Their teacher never finished the chapter before the bell rang and assigned them all the homework to finish reading it.

Scorpius smiled to himself.

Done, he thought.

Their final class of the day turned out to be the favorite of them all. They had it with the Ravenclaws and found it to be both instructive and entertaining.

Defense against the Dark Arts was a thrilling subject. The classroom provided room for dueling or practicing spells in the front under the small staircase that led to the teacher's office. There were a neat row of desks in the middle of the room and a long table against the back wall, conveniently set for them to set their bags if they wanted to.

Their teacher came in about five minutes late, entering through the same door they had entered. He was fairly small with short cut, auburn hair and a neat outfit that included a tie, a brown vest, a small and soft brown cape, and grey trousers with black shoes at the bottom.

He had a small moustache and a cheerful look, and yet rather crazed. His eyes were very wide.

"Hello, class," he called as he reached the front. "Welcome to your first Defense against the Dark Arts class. I am your teacher, Professor Pavelchack. This year, we will be practicing and learning about beginner level defensive spells for more along the lines of pesky creatures like a garden Nome or an imp. First off, I want you all to take out your wands."

The class did so, everyone reaching under their robes to pull out their wands.

"Good," Pavelchack said. "Now, I want to practice holding them. If you do not hold your wand properly during spell casting, especially defensive, any wizard or witch will tell you that it can result in some very annoying physical pain. Now, grip the handle with your wand hand, whether your right or left handed. Then, move your thumb so that it is higher than all of your other fingers, pointing it straight up to the tip. Move your other four fingers so that they are placed over the handle and the joint directly under your thumb."

The students obliged, most looking rather bored.

"We already know this," Scorpius muttered under his breath.

"Good work, guys. Now that we've got the boring basic of how to hold a wand out of the way, let's get to spell casting!"

The students all brightened up excitedly, ready to do some magic.

"Now, the first spell I'm going to teach you is very, very easy to master. It is still used by wizards everywhere because of how it becomes more powerful as the wizard or witch learns more magic. For you, it will simply knock whatever your using it on over, like a person or a random object. The spell is called _Flippendo_, the knockback jinx. Watch and learn."

He pointed his wand at a random book standing upright on a table.

"_Flippendo!" _he cast.

An extremely quick spell shot out of his wand and hit the book, making a strange popping sound, and sending it flying through the air and onto the floor.

Many of the students smiled.

"Now, it blends well with its surroundings, so it's hard to see it most of the time," Pavelchack explained. "That is why you'll see it used almost as much as the stunning spell because of the advantage it gives to the caster. Now, I want you all to divide into pairs, one of each holding a book or any other random object. Two groups will both be allowed to come up to the front and each person will have a turn to practice the spell. Now, get into your groups!"

The rest of the class was very entertaining. Many people had terrible aim and ended up making the entire class, including themselves and the teacher, hit a different object and sending it through the window. Albus even managed to hit somebody's wand out of their hand.

"Very good, Albus," Pavelchack laughed. "But that's what we use _Expelliarmus _for. Anyway, five points to Gryffindor for a good show, though. That will be all for today. Your homework is to read the very short chapter on the _Flippendo _spell. Class dismissed!"

They all happily grabbed their bags as the bell rung, walking down the long, spiral staircase leading to the third floor.

They each talked animatedly about the class they had just had.

"I can see why he'd be James's favorite teacher," Albus said as they entered the large Transfiguration courtyard. "He makes class entertaining."

"He should teach History of Magic, then," Nick interjected. "Binns isn't exactly what you'd call entertaining."

"I just read ahead of him," Scorpius said. "Means that I don't have to do tonight's homework. Not that he's gonna ask anyone if they did or not."

They all sat underneath the large tree that had recently been planted, set to do their homework. The bottom of the Astronomy tower stuck out at the end of the courtyard, like a tall building that had just been seated there. The courtyard, as everyone knew, did not always look like that. It used to be smaller, with the walls actually covering up the Astronomy Tower's bottom. Then, there was the Battle of Hogwarts.

Professor Longbottom stood in front of the Transfiguration classroom where he had just been talking to a colleague. He stared at the courtyard, remembering that terrible day where nearly all of Hogwarts had been destroyed. This courtyard had gotten just about the worst of it, even worse than the entrance courtyard where the heart of the battle had been besides the Great Hall. He soon tuned out the noises around him and remembered perfectly how it had happened.

_:_

_Neville's wand was firing spell after spell at the hooded figures rampaging through his school. He saw the death eaters cast curses in all directions, injuring and killing innocent students._

_Many of the students were fighting, but most of the younger ones who had foolishly stayed behind were curled up, screaming with horror or pain. They were protected by a few older students or teachers, but many were killed._

_Neville saw the red flash of light and felt himself fly through the air, unable to control his body. He luckily landed on his feet, his legs absorbing most of the shock as he tumbled and landed on his front. He saw others do the same, none of them landing like he did. He could even see some of them scream as their arms were twisted on impact, forcing the bone to stick out. He winced as he saw it. One girl landed on her head, her neck twisting and cracking as she landed. When her fall was finished, she didn't move at all._

"_YOU BASTARDS!" Neville heard someone shout. _

_He turned to see Eric Spellbound, a good Ravenclaw friend, running through the courtyard at the death eaters._

_Nott turned to see him coming, and smiled._

_The death eater raised his black wand and yelled the dreaded words, making green light spill out of the tip of his weapon, hitting Eric straight in the face and sending him crashing to the ground._

_The death eaters leaped into the air, forming into enchanted black smoke and flying up towards the sky. Then, he saw them returning._

_No, he thought. _

_He struggled to his feet as they came, knowing what would happen should they hit any structure._

_Neville pulled others to their feet, his ears still ringing from the sound of the blast and they charged through the small hallway set around the courtyard, racing for the Transfiguration classroom. It would have to be their sanctuary._

_Tears came from Neville's eyes as he heard a girl from way behind him crying out "HELP ME!"_

_They burst through the doors and charged to the far end of the room, placing the injured down on the floor._

"_Help them, I'm going back!" Neville shouted at a Terry and Michael._

_Neville ran back across the classroom, jumping through the double doors to try and help the others. He was too late._

_The death eaters, still absorbed in their thick air born smoke, crashed into the courtyard. Many hit the ground directly, some hit the large tree Neville used to climb, but most went straight for the walls and the hallway that surrounded the yard, catching everything on fire. The combined collision created a huge explosion that sent Neville flying back through the air until he hit the doors again and landed back inside the classroom, dazed and disoriented from the discharge. _

_He opened his eyes and saw the image of the room swirling before him. He saw somebody running towards him, trying to get him to his feet. It was a small twelve or thirteen year old boy. When his hearing stopped ringing, mostly, and his eyesight came into focus, Neville saw that it was Martin, a small blonde boy in second year, a Gryffindor._

"_What are you still doing here?" Neville yelled at him. "I…I thought you escaped!"_

"_Neville, don't you remember? I came back for the battle," Martin replied. "But come on, the courtyards completely on fire, they destroyed it! We're trying to summon some brooms to get the hell out of here."_

_The doors were open and Neville could see some students trying to put out the surrounding flames with water coming from their wands. The entire courtyard was in flames, no inch of it saved. The hallway that used to circle around it, a shady spot, had collapsed and was to on fire. Some of the walls had even been destroyed so that Neville could see other corridors and even the bottom of the Astronomy Tower sticking out._

"_Dear God," Neville exclaimed._

"_I know," Martin answered, staring at the flames in horror. _

"_I see some brooms!" Terry shouted, pointing at long sticks flying high above them. "We can ride them out! Thank God Michael and Lavender are good at summoning. Accio!"_

_There weren't enough brooms for every single one of them, so each broom had two people riding on it, except for one where a Professor was leading them._

"_Let's go!" he shouted._

_They all took the air, flying above the terrible flames that had consumed the Transfiguration courtyard. _

_The group flew high over Hogwarts, seeing the battle all over it. They were finally directly above the main entrance courtyard, where they could see students, teachers, and others fighting off death eaters, giants, vampires, and hobgoblins that resembled large, ugly frogs._

"_Come on!" the Professor yelled to the, waving his arm through the air. _

_They all dived, shooting spells at their enemies._

_A giant swatted its hand through the air, catching the Professor and tossing him off of his broom. He landed hard on the stone and brick floor and didn't move. _

_Damn, Neville thought._

_They made sure to fly away from the giant and advanced on the large courtyard next to the entrance yard. The battle was even larger here, with more death eaters fighting._

"_Get us low!" Martin instructed loudly into Neville's ringing ear. "I need to get to the ground!"_

_He dived and Martin leaped off, landing on the floor impressively. The second year ran through the yard, foolishly firing spells everywhere. _

_Neville soon realized his mistake in leaving him there but couldn't find him in the sea of bodies either fighting or lying dead._

…

_The sun had risen and Neville was walking through the ruins. There were bricks, stones, wood, and bodies lying everywhere the eye could see. Neville scooped down to pick up a small figure. It was Martin, his eyes closed peacefully. Neville allowed the tears to come as he carried the dead boy into the Great Hall to lye him next to the others who had lost their lives, including many of his friends. He saw Remus Lupin and Tonks lying side by side. He looked then at the Weasley's who were all sobbing over the body of Fred. Neville began to sob. He finally placed Martin on the floor carefully. He saw Professor Slughorn staring at the body of the professor who had directed them away from the Transfiguration courtyard. Slughorn wore the most somber expression Neville had ever seen on him._

_Cho was cradling Dennis Creevy was screaming with sobs as he looked upon the body of his older brother, Collin who had just been set down by a quivering Oliver Wood._

_Jacob Kragoff, a friend of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, was bawling as Madam Pomfrey tried her best to heal the wounds of an unconscious Chad, Jacob's twelve year old brother. Chad didn't look as if he'd make it._

_Neville finally sat next to Ginny, the Patil Twins, Anthony, Terry, Michael, and Lavender._

_Lavender was receiving medical treatment for a bad bite on her neck, Ginny was crying over Fred, and Michael was joining Terry and Anthony in a silent mourning over Eric. His body was probably lying, burnt to a crisp, in the destroyed courtyard. Neville looked at the Patil twins, who also looked at him as if to ask what they should do, who they should cry over._

_Neville sat down and closed his eyes, mourning everyone. _


	4. Chapter 4

Harry Potter: The Next Generation

Chapter four: Hogwarts

James stood nervously in the field, his index finger and thumb fidgeting on his left hand. His right hand grasped a thick broomstick that his father had sent him the year previous. It had a cold colored handle that twisted like a regular broomstick would with finely painted red twigs at the bottom. There were two silver poles on either side of the handle, directly above the twigs. James and his father didn't care much for the style compared to the original firebolt, but the firebolt 2000 was definitely faster.

James wasn't sure why he should be nervous. He had been the best chaser on the Gryffindor team the year before, in his third year. Why should a simple tryout be anything to fret over?

Because Jacob was the new Gryffindor Captain of the Quidditch team. James knew that even though Jacob was a complete joker in school, he would choose carefully who he put on the team, and he definitely wasn't very happy with James this year.

Damn that Malfoy kid, James thought in his head. Stupid kid!

"Okay, first we're gonna have the tryouts for the chaser!" Jacob called to the large group of Gryffindors.

Okay, James thought. Time to show them what you can do.

In the stands, people had come to watch, bringing their breakfasts with them.

Albus, Scorpius, Rose, Nick, Kyle, Burk, and Sarah all sat with a couple of other kids in their year. Scorpius wasn't annoyed at all that Rose, Albus, and Nick were all here to cheer on for James, even though he personally hated the bloke. He wasn't about to turn Albus completely against his older brother.

"Come on, James!" plenty of students shouted. James was quite popular.

He felt his courage return, remembering the large ego he had.

"I'm awesome," he murmured under his breath.

He took off on his lightning fast broomstick, making students cheer in awe.

He did a couple of laps around the pitch in seconds before catching the sailing Quaffle, diving under a speeding Bludger just in the nick of time. He then looped around the two incoming opposing chasers, sailing straight for the hoops. Jacob was smiling, sitting on his broom in front of the goal posts.

You can do this! James yelled in his head. He knew how good Jacob was at kicking the Quaffle far across the field. He had once done a Ron Weasley and managed to shoot it straight through the opposite team's middle hoop, but not by accident like Ron's had been.

James knew Jacob had already anticipated his plan to throw it through either the middle or the far left hoop, James' left. He realized he needed to distract him.

James did something he was sure used to be against the rules back when the game was first invented and flew directly under Jacob, causing the keeper/captain to wheel around in confusion. James then did a loop in the air, going upside down before straightening again, finally tossing the Quaffle through the far right hoop.

"Yes!" he shouted as the crowd cheered loudly.

"Brilliant!" Jacob yelled to him, clapping loudly.

James grinned broadly and dove down to the ground, landing neatly on his feet as even other hopeful players cheered at his performance.

"I am awesome," he muttered again, giving his best friend, Joey, a high five.

…

James sat on the couch in front of the fire, his girlfriend, Marietta, lying comfortably under his arm. He snickered as his brother gave him a jealous look. Behind Albus was Scorpius who accidently made eye contact with James, who suddenly glared at him.

Scorpius quickly walked into the restroom to shower before bed.

"That was impressive today, Potter," Jacob congratulated, handing James a bottle.

"Thanks," James replied, beginning to down the drink. He coughed suddenly as it burned his throat painfully. "Argh! Shit! What the hell is that stuff?"

"Fire whiskey," Jacob answered, smiling as Martin laughed next to him.

"We swapped it from a shop down in Hogsmeade, we did," Martin told him, proudly.

"But…we haven't even had a trip there, yet," said a confused Marietta.

"Doesn't stop us from visiting," Jacob said back. "We know probably all the secrets about this place. I mean, we even created our own hangout in the room of requirement."

"Impressive," Joey said as he walked up to them. "Fred and George Weasley would be proud."

Later, at dinner, Albus and the others talked with Jacob, Martin, and Bonnie.

"How am I going to _prove _myself to the others?" Scorp asked them. "I mean, I don't know any spells, I haven't got much talent, and I even look exactly like my father!"

"Calm yourself, child," Jacob spoke in his false teaching voice. "I shall instruct you on the ways that you can use to prove yourself to these people." He suddenly changed back to his normal American tone. "Okay, first thing's first. You've got to do something that hundreds of wise, legendary Gryffindors have been doing for centuries!"

"Which is?" Scorp, Al, Rose, Nick, Sarah, Kyle, and Burk all asked at once.

"You've got to prank the Slytherins," Martin whispered.

Everyone's eyes widened except for Jacob and Martin.

"Prank them?" Bonnie repeated. "But why does it have to be a prank to prove that he's a Gryffindor?"

"Well, what do you suggest? Good grades?" Jacob retorted.

Rose was about to speak up before Albus elbowed her in the ribs.

"Ow!" she exclaimed in his ear.

"Sorry, Rosie," Al apologized.

"Don't call me that," Rose shot back.

"Well, how do I prank them?" asked Scorp.

"That is something, little boy, that only _you _would know for sure," Jacob explained. "It has to be a prank completely devised of your own accord. But, I can interject some guidance. I am, after all, a very good teacher."

"As am I, Scorp," Martin reminded. "As am I."

"Okay, so here's one thing that you need to know," Jacob started. "It has to be something big. It has to be something that pisses off the entire house of Slytherin!"

"Okay, great," Scorp sarcastically replied. "So, I'll just make friends with one house, Gryffindor, and make mortal enemies with another house, the Slytherins. Great, right?"

"Well, would you rather it was the other way around?" Martin inquired.

"No," Scorp agreed.

"Good," Jacob alleged. "Well, it's settled then. It will take a while, but we'll help you come up with the best prank you could ever think of!"

"Make sure it involves kicking Skullfield's ass," Albus muttered into Scorp's ear.

Scorpius looked over at the Slytherin table to see Trevor Skullfield making his cronies laugh with a terrible joke that was probably at the expense of someone else.

"Agreed," Scorpius whispered back, not taking his eyes off of his enemy.

It was a Harry Potter/ Draco Malfoy situation.

…

Classes become much more difficult as October grew older and colder.

Professor Moses was planning on having them all brew him a potion of their choice that had to be under third year level and was to be turned in as a project grade by the end of the month.

"I could seriously have done a fifth or sixth year potion," Rose complained as she stuffed ingredients into her bag after class. "I mean, I am Hermione Weasley's daughter, aren't I? My family is just good at those things. It's in my blood."

"What do you mean, your family is?" Albus asked. "Uncle Ron knew as much about potions as I do about History of Magic! Which reminds me, Scorpius can I borrow your notes?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes but nodded, receiving a scoff from Rose.

Scorpius had been reading ahead in Bathilda Bagshot's book and was probably on second year level already. Rose would never let Albus copy so he usually went to Scorp.

There was so much Scorpius didn't know about history. In fact, witch burnings rarely succeeded as the victim would use a charm to make the fire un-harmful to their bodies. King Arthur had indeed been best friends with Merlin, one of the most brilliant Wizards to ever live, however it turned out they used to dislike each other. In fact, when Merlin first arrived at the castle when he was about nineteen, he had thought Prince Arthur to be a complete ass.

Scorpius had even skipped ahead and read about the quest popularity known as "The Lord of the Rings". Gandalf, who had been the first Wizard to experience an afterlife where he could walk the earth as a human being, had also been one of the greatest minds, even before Merlin.

Albus, however, felt that this was all boring.

"I mean, why waste the time when there's Quidditch to talk about?" he asked Scorp.

"I do talk about Quidditch," Scorpius replied. "All the time."

"Speaking of which, who really hopes they get to go the World Cup this summer in America?" Nick asked. "I know Jacob's going!"

"That's because he's the most successful exchange students America has ever sent and they gave him three top box tickets," Kyle explained with envy in his voice.

Transfiguration was proving to be the most difficult subject.

"I know it's hard," Professor Barrymore called out as they all concentrated hard on turning a matchbox into a small serving bowl. "But Ms. Weasley's got it already!"

Rose straightened up proudly.

"And fifteen points well deserved," Barrymore chuckled. "Come on, keep trying!"

Herbology was becoming more along the lines of dangerous.

"Be careful!" Professor Longbottom shouted as the students all frantically stood on their stools, pulling out their wands for defense. "I think the venomous, no I know, the venomous tantactila escaped again!"

"Same old clumsy Neville Longbottom," Burk snickered in an undertone.

Suddenly, the large vine with the wide open mouth came out of nowhere, causing students to scream in fright.

"Shit!" the Professor yelled.

He pointed his wand at the vine and muttered a spell, making it burn to a crisp and collapse on the floor.

"Okay," Professor Longbottom began, breathing heavily. "Just because I just swore doesn't mean I still don't have a rule against swearing."

The class laughed and relaxed, some still looking nervous.

One of the easiest, and safest, classes turned out to also be the one with the most annoying teacher.

"Oh, would you please stop talking!" Mr. Finnegan shouted. "I mean, come on! Is it that difficult to just follow directions? Concentrate while you're working!"

When Charms class finally ended, a fuming Albus made an enraged remark as they exited the room, not knowing that Mr. Finnegan was still in earshot.

"Mr. Potter!" he called angrily. "Return here, please. I need to speak with you."

Albus' face froze with alert as he moaned slightly and turned to walk toward his teacher.

"Y…es, sir?" Albus asked. Damn, I'm stuttering, he though. He had thought that only happened when James was mad at him.

"Albus, what is the difference between being mean and being strict?" Mr. Finnegan asked him.

He didn't answer for a moment and then simply said

"I'm…not sure, sir."

"Let me teach you," suggested his teacher with that stern facial expression Albus hated so much. "The difference is that being mean is when I purposely put you down, hurt you physically and truly emotionally. Being strict is when I try to run a tight ship, making sure you all understand the rules and that you don't misbehave. You're in this class to learn, not socialize. It's a large castle with long years ahead of it. Trust me, you have plenty of other places and other times to goof around with your friends."

After a pause, he said

"You know, your dad and I shared a dormitory back in the old days."

"You did?" Albus asked.

"Yeah, we did," he said back. "He wasn't really a peaceful sleeper, trust me. He had nightmares all the time. During our fifth year, I believed all the rumors about him being a lunatic."

Albus felt more irritation towards his professor.

"But then, I saw him always proving to everyone that he was right and never gave up on what he knew, I decided I believed him. So, after that, we went back to being good friends and I even fought alongside him during the battle."

"You did?" said Albus, smiling now.

"Yep," Finnegan said. "I even blew up that damn bridge that led to the grounds where we had the Quidditch field. That's why we got that nice, big new one with the benches. So, my point is that even if you don't like somebody at first doesn't mean you can't warm up to them? Get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," Albus responded, now feeling better.

"Good," Mr. Finnegan said. "Now, get to your next class, kid."

The most entertaining class so far was Defense against the Dark Arts.

"We've been blowing things apart for the past month," Rose reminded them, looking rather annoyed. "Is that all we're going to do?"

"Pretty much for the first part of the year, yeah," Pavelchack replied as he walked by them. "Oh, don't look at me like that, Rose. You've only got about seven more years to learn the boring stuff."

Rose's friends laughed at this.

"Fine," she said, folding her arms.

For James, however, the year was proving to be much more difficult.

"God, I bloody hate homework," he grumbled as he, Joey, Bonnie, and two other fourth years sat in the Gryffindor common room one rainy evening. They all had their noses in books and parchment worksheets and James' scowl was darkening every minute.

"I'm just glad we didn't have Quidditch practice tonight," Joey said. "Can u imagine what it'd be like; Jacob making us practice in the rain?"

"It'd take too long," James answered. "I wouldn't be able to get even an hour of homework done."

Quidditch practices happened almost every night and Jacob proved to be tougher than people gave him credit for.

"Make no mistake!" the American transfer shouted over the howling, chilly wind. "Come rain, shine, or whatever else any gods throw at us, we're still gonna be playing a match!"

"Good to know," muttered Brian, one of the beaters.

On October thirty-first, Halloween, the first trip to Hogsmeade finally arrived.

Over the past few years, after Professor McGonagall had retired, the rules had been changed so that all students of all years could visit the village. First and second years were becoming tired of always being trapped inside the castle.

So, on the thirty-first morning of October, the castle steadily emptied, leaving behind a few students hoping to work and most of the staff.

"I need to see your permission forms!" shouted Jeremy, the bearded, red haired caretaker yelled to the crowd of students. "If you want to go to the village, you have to show your permission forms!"

They each showed him the forms they were gripping in their gloved hands before walking across the large, suspension bridge that led to the main pathway to the village.

"Let's go and find a carriage," Albus muttered to his friends, trying to push through the crowd of older students.

"Hey! Harry Potter's son!" someone exclaimed.

He ignored them, still trying to get through the crowd.

"Wow, everyone really wants to go, don't they?" Scorp observed.

"Well, I hope Hogsmeade's prepared for the army that's going to attack in a bit," said Kyle.

Albus, Scorp, Rose, and Nick managed to get a carriage with Kyle, Burk, and Sarah.

"Oh, my God! It's so chilly out here!" Sarah complained, shivering in her overcoat.

"Do you want my scarf?" Kyle offered, pointing toward his thick, Gryffindor colored scarf.

"Sure," Sarah replied, allowing Kyle to hand it to her.

She bundled up in it, smiling and thanked Kyle.

"You sure you won't be cold?" she said to him.

"Course not," Kyle said back, shivering slightly.

They continued to ride through the woods, laughing as they joked with each other, pointing at all of the different little animals they saw.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry Potter: The Next Generation

Chapter 5: A Halloween in Hogsmeade

(Please Remember to Review and make any suggestions you may have)

They continued to gossip cheerfully with each other, laughing at the Halloween decorations hung over the entrance to the village as their carriage pulled in. Albus and Scorp both grinned broadly as the other kids began to talk quickly with excitement.

"I can't believe we get to spend the whole day out here," said Sarah.

"Where should we go first?" Nick asked the others.

"Well, I'm heading to the post office first," Burke returned. "Anyone coming along?"

"I will," Kyle and Sarah both answered.

"Well, we'll meet up with you guys at the three broomsticks for lunch, okay?" Rose suggested.

"Sounds good," they all agreed.

Kyle, Burke, and Sarah all walked to the post office as Albus, Scorpius, Rose, and Nick walked to the honeydukes sweet shop.

"Oh, it's much warmer in here!" Rose exclaimed, smiling.

"Look at all of this stuff," Albus laughed. "It looks awesome!"

The group of four darted around the crowded shop, stopping only to say hi to other school mates.

They grabbed many different kinds of sweets off of the shelves. Different kinds of chocolate, lickerish, beans, and candy, mostly wizard varieties besides a small section devoted to Muggle sweets.

"We're gonna spoil out lunch you know," Rose commented as they strode out of the shop, their pockets bursting to the brim with candy and money.

"Who cares?" the boys all said together.

They walked toward an amazing looking shop that used to be Zonkos.

WEASLEY WIZARD WEEZES: HOGSMEADE LOCATION.

Excited, they darted in, ready to spend most of their remaining gold.

"Bloody hell, this is brilliant! Scorpius said with enthusiasm.

The shop was not really as good as the original one, but it was still the best shop in the village. Its walls were red brown, covered with towering shelves piled with amazing joke shop items.

"Oh, my God," Nick said. "This is great."

As the grabbed different items off the shelves, a loud, cheery voice greeted them.

"Well, well, well, look at all these young costumers!"

A tall man with short, red hair and expensive looking clothing walked out.

He had glistening red sun-glasses and red trousers. He had a buttoned up, orange shirt and a gold colored over-coat. He basically shone in the light of the shop.

"Uncle George!" Albus and Rose shouted as the many shoppers all began cheering loudly.

George Weasley stretched his arms wide open as if to hug every person shopping there.

"Well, seeing as there are so many Hogwartians here today," he proclaimed. "I've decided 50 percent off for all items! How's that sound?"

They all cheered again at the living legend's announcement.

"And how are my little nephew and niece?" he asked Albus and Rose as the shoppers again focused their attention on the now half-priced items.

"Great," Al replied. "It's great to see you! You're being generous with prices today, aren't you?"

"Felt like it," George said. "But, please, if I did this every day, with all the money we make, there'd still be money coming in faster than you can count!"

"Quite a profit," said Rose.

"Quite a profit indeed, Rosie!" he laughed, hugging her. "Oh, God! I've missed you kids. Little Fred has too, since he won't be at Hogwarts for another few years."

"How are Mum and Dad?" Al asked him.

"Bril," George answered. "You are writing, aren't you?"

"Yep," said Albus and Rose together.

George talked with Nick for a little before seeing Scorpius and going

"Rosie, you can't just hang out with all boys, now! Ha-,"

He stopped, recognizing Scorpius, who shifted his feet.

"Oh," George muttered, his face becoming sterner. "Scorpius Malfoy. Well, last time your dad shopped in my shop, he used some darkness powder to get away with some death eaters in Hogwarts. So, don't think I won't be watching what you buy."

Scorp hung his head.

"Uncle George!" Rose snapped. "Come on, we've been hanging out with him since day one and he's nothing line hi-,"

"I'll see you lot later," he cheerfully said, quickly walking away.

They stood in an awkward silence for a moment before Nick suggested that they move over to the counter.

After they had bought their goods, the four students proceeded to the large bar, the Three Broomsticks, for lunch.

It was crowded, but very impressive.

There were students and adults everywhere, eating grilled meat and drinking butterbeer.

When they had found Sarah, Kyle, and Burke, they sat down and ordered whatever food they wanted along with mugs of butterbeer.

Albus saw that Scorpius was picking at his stake, hardly even bothering to take a sip of his drink.

"What's wrong?" Albus asked, even though he already knew the answer. When Scorpius did not respond, Al said

"Look, I know Uncle George. He's a joker and you love him when you're on his good side. On the other hand, the war changed him. Think about it, he lost his twin. Fred was his brother and his best friend. I'm surprised he didn't kill himself. So, just remember that he'll come round. He always does. Soon, people aren't gonna think of you as Draco Malfoy's son."

"Because that would be a complete tragedy, now wouldn't it?" said a sarcastic voice from behind Albus.

They all turned to see a tall man with a small, scratchy goatee, long blonde hair, and unfriendly looking eyes.

"Dad," said a horrified Scorpius, his eyes wide with surprise.

"Happy to see me?" Draco Malfoy questioned, addressing his son.

Scorpius merely nodded, still looking scared.

"I came because I wanted to talk to you," Malfoy explained.

As Scorpius walked next to him, Malfoy looked at the other children and smiled.

"Pleasure to meet you all," he said. "I work with some of your parents."

And with that, he steered his son away, holding a long, black and silver walking stick in his left hand.

Scorpius shook slightly. He hadn't been expecting or hoping for this.

When they were under some stairs, in a corner, Malfoy spoke.

"I see you've made some new friends," he observed.

Scorpius nodded again.

"Oh for God's sakes, can't you fucking speak to me, Scorpius?" he snapped at Scorp.

"Uh...y...yes, sir," Scorpius squeaked.

"Good," Malfoy replied. "Now, listen. I was definitely shocked when I heard that you were sorted into Gryffindor and when you started making friends with them but what's this I hear about you trying to prove yourself as a Gryffindor? To live down your family name? Malfoys are supposed to be strong willed enough to ignore ridiculously un-clever remarks from idiotic peers. I've heard that James Potter is so full of himself because of his heritage that his head is the size of the Astronomy tower. Why is it that someone of your stature should be bothered by these meaningless children? Answer me."

Scorpius said nothing for a moment. Then, he responded with

"I...I'm s...sorry, father. But, I'm a Gryffindor, not a Slytherin. And I need to act like myself. I'm sorry."

He stood silently, looking scared as his father glared.

"Very well, then," Malfoy finally said. "Then I guess I've lost you as well."

Scorpius felt hurt before stuttering

"B...bu...but, f...father-"

"Goodbye, Scorpius," said a disappointed and bitter Malfoy, walking away. He didn't even bother to look as Scorp tried to regain his attention, calling for him through the crowd. He also didn't notice that Scorpius was crying. Either that or he simply didn't care.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry Potter: Next Generation

Chapter 6: Rose's sympathy

They spent the rest of the day in Hogsmeade. They visited more shops and spent time with other students, trying to forget the awkward meeting with Mr. Malfoy.

When the sky finally darkened, Scorpius and the others climbed into their carriage. All of the Hogwarts carriages rode through the woods, Halloween decorations still hanging on the trees. A magically powered misty light was shining on the area, giving it an even spookier feeling. This, they all had to admit, was very impressive.

When they arrived, people quickly went to drop off their new items (mostly Weasley items that were, of course, banned) before they raced down to the Great Hall.

The Hall had been decorated with magical animated phantoms roaming around, making the real ghosts roll their eyes, or laugh. Hagrid's gigantic pumpkins were brilliantly lit jak o lanterns, suspended high over them where the candles usually were. Thick fog covered the floor and the tables were piled high with large, satisfying amounts of Halloween sweets. Real cobwebs were strung up from the torches that were now lit with blue flame, allowing the Hall to become darker in the holiday spirit.

"This is bloody brilliant," Albus and the others exclaimed as they finally found their seats.

As they ate, an immensely popular band (Spellhook) began to play for the evening entertainment. In the middle of dinner, Rose glanced over to see Scorp glancing down at his plate. His expression was miserable.

"You know, people usually enjoy these things," Rose joked.

He looked at her and then muttered

"People here still glare at me whenever they look at me. Now my own father's against me. Why am I the one that has to suffer for what he did?"

He did not yell and he didn't even cry. That would have been easier to watch. Instead, he simply sat there, his look making him seem defeated. There was no way he'd be able to prove himself a Gryffindor like this.

Rose sat and thought of what to think. For the first time, she failed to respond to someone's question. Lost for words, she merely took Scorp's hand in hers.

He looked up at her, surprised. When Rose saw him, she saw that he had such potential. He wasn't just a tiny, pale blonde boy who cried all the time. He was, like many people in life were, misunderstood.

"We'll get you through this," she promised. "Don't worry."

Eventually, the evening came to a close.

The band finished playing and went to relax in the side chamber, the trophy room.

Students talked cheerfully as they exited; their stomachs all full of sweets.

As they walked up their stairs, Scorpius looked at Rose's hand as it was driven up the banister. He had a sudden urge to hold it again.

When they finally reached the common room, they saw that all the good chairs and spots on the sofa had been occupied by older students.

Scorpius and Albus walked up to bed after they had caught the angry eye of James.

No sooner had they reached the door to their dormitory, when James burst into the small corridor.

"Malfoy," he said. "I want to talk to you, now."

"Just leave him alone, James!" Albus protested.

"It's fine," whispered a terrified Scorpius.

"Oh, don't worry," James shot back. "I'm not gonna hurt him or anything."

Albus could not argue. Scorpius noticed how Al always stuttered when trying to talk to James. He was afraid of his older brother.

"Go to bed," James ordered him.

With one last glance at Scorpius, who nodded, Albus retreated into the dorm.

There was a short silence before Scorpius backed away as James advanced forward.

"Listen, you little shit," James growled.

He took a hold on Scorp's shirt, who flinched.

"I saw you and Rose holding hands downstairs at dinner. And I want you to know that I'm not gonna let you two be together, so lay off her!"

"We're not together," Scorp returned. "She was just talking to me, making me feel better about my dad yelling at me in Hogsmeade."

There was as pause as James let Scorpius go.

"Your dad was in Hogsmeade?"

"Yeah," Scorpius replied. "He was getting mad at me because of the whole getting sorted into Gryffindor thing. The asshole just kept yelling at me, he nearly hit me again, and it's all just because I'm not like him! Why will nobody believe that already?"

Scorpius ducked under a stunned James and ran into the dorm. The fourth year stood there, thinking rapidly in his head about what he had heard.

(Yes, I know. Short chapter, sorry. Please remember to review and I hope you are enjoying the story)


	7. Chapter 7

Harry Potter: Next Generation

Chapter 7: Quidditch

Harry Potter hated Monday mornings. As usual, he rose before the sun did and showered and got dressed. In his long, black silk work robes, he looked as professional as ever. He took care to kiss his sleeping daughter on the forehead before walking into his kitchen to make tea.

His wife sat there, not dressed yet, drinking coffee and waiting for the morning post.

"You've got to stop waking up so early with me," Harry said to Ginny as he prepared the tea.

"And you've got to stop going to work so early," she laughed quietly.

"I told you, I'm the first one in-" he began.

"And the last one out," Ginny finished for him.

Harry ate his breakfast swiftly, cleaning it all with a casual flip of his wand before kissing Ginny a second time and walking out of the house. Ginny laughed when she found all the dished stacked messily in the sink.

"He still can't cast cleaning spells too well," she giggled, whipping them all clean with one flick of her wand.

Harry apparated directly into the atrium of the Ministry. As head of the Auror office, he always came in as early as possible.

He could see the Minister, his good friend Jacob Kragoff, talking with a small trio of officials. Harry noticed that they weren't British as he walked by.

"Listen, we'll talk more later," Kragoff said to them.

He walked away from the three men and directed Harry into the small circular room that held all the lifts.

"Three representatives from other Ministries," he explained. "One from the states, one from France, and one from Germany."

"What's going on?" Harry asked him urgently. "Is it spreading out of Germany? I thought it was contained by special Muggle Military?"

"Turns out not to well," Kragoff stated. "Even they were affected. Eventually, it'll spread to regular towns and cities, it will reach the papers, and the public will panic. You and your team need to find Rosnick soon!"

"Understood," Harry replied. "We'll get started."

And with that, he raced off to his office.

...

The first Quidditch game of the season was approaching and it was set to be Gryffindor against Slytherin.

"It seems like that's the most popular one to begin with," said a tired Jacob after practice. "Two rough teams that hate each other. Best entertainment in this school."

Though he had stood in for keeper at the beginning of the try outs, Jacob ended up becoming a chaser. Being the Captain, nobody had argued especially because of how the other hopefuls had played.

The lineup for the Gryffindor team this year was a good one, full of exceptional players. James was a chaser along with Jacob and Martin. The keeper was a seventh year named Paris, a tall and strong boy with the look of a Muggle boxer. The two beaters ironically were much smaller. They were two tall fifth years, both girls. One had long, sparkling silver-blonde hair who went by the nick name Dite after Aphrodite, goddess of love. The second beater was not as beautiful but was even tougher. Monroe had short, black hair and chocolate brown skin. She was pretty, a normal pretty, but would never stand to be mistreated.

"I chose them well," Jacob muttered after he saw both girls' bitch-slap ex-boyfriends.

The youngest player was two years older than Albus and the others. Marty was a Muggle-born, a small third year with fair hair and an out of place expression. He had always been a social failure and had barely even made it to the try outs.

Surprising everyone, he had given a spectacular performance as seeker, winning popularity every second he did so.

"Now," said a determined Jacob during a one on one practice. "If we're going to win the game, then we need to do more than just play, we need to put on a show. You know, get as many supporters on our side as possible."

"What do you mean?" Marty asked.

"I mean that we have to play like we own the field," he explained. "Entertainment equals happy people, which leads to a large audience which is the definition of success! I've seen what you can do on a broom and you have the rare gift of being able to look flashy and play like a pro. Now, all we need to do is show that."

The first Saturday of November dawned cold and bright. Frost sparkled on the grass while the spirits of the castle residents brightened their auras with excitement.

James walked into the Great Hall for breakfast with his team. Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs with a number of Ravenclaws all cheered loudly.

The team sat down with large grins on their faces.

"Ready?" Jacob asked Marty.

The thirteen year old nodded, looking fairly nervous.

"Good," James said. "Slytherin's rough, so we need to really try."

"That's why we've been practicing for nearly two months," Martin put in. "We'll do fine."

"We'll do great," Monroe said.

All of the students chatted during the rest of breakfast, talking excitedly of the Quidditch match.

Finally, at about 9:30, the Gryffindor team stood and walked out of the hall.

"So, do you think they'll do well?" Scorpius asked Albus.

"Of course I do," Albus replied.

"What's the matter, Malfoy?" Nick joked. "Deciding to sport for the good old family house instead?"

"Ha, ha," said an un-amused Scorpius.

"I think our chances are very good," Rose began. "Jacob's really been training the team hard, I'm sure that they'll win this thing."

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see, now won't we!" Nick alleged.

Seven players with bright red and gold robes across the field, glaring at an opposite team with an equal number of players, all wearing green and silver robes.

"Into the air!" shouted Professor Pavelchack.

All of the players flew high into the air, circling around the field to tremendous applause. They all finally stopped in a large circle, about twenty feet in the air. James gripped the handle of his broom tightly with anticipation.

"Hello and welcome to the first Quidditch game of the season!" called out a loud, fifth year female voice from the commentator's stand.

Albus and the others turned to see Dominique, Victioe's younger sister, speaking into the large megaphone.

"It is indeed a beautiful and chilly morning as the players take their place, waiting to begin the game," she continued to more cheering.

All of the students went wild as the Bludgers were released, soaring through the air, followed by the Quaffle and the Snitch.

"AND THE GAME BEGINS!"

The players all dove around, frantically trying to intercept each other.

Jacob caught the Quaffle before a Slytherin could grab it. He sped through the small crowd of players, doing a large loop in the air to head for the Slytherin goal posts.

The Slytherin keeper sat in mi-air, waiting eagerly for Jacob.

"And Fleming dodges a speeding Bludger, which is hit by Dite toward a Slytherin chaser, which meets its target, Fleming continues to speed toward the goal posts, goes OVER them, dives back down and shoots in the other direction? He quickly turns! He confuses the Slytherin keeper, throws the Quaffle into the far right hoop and GRYFFINDOR SCORES!"

Most of the crowd cheered as the Slytherins all shouted swears at the top of their lungs, despite being near teachers.

As Dominique talked as quickly as possible, James managed to catch the Quaffle just as it fell out of a Slytherin's loose grip.

"And James goes for the goal posts before passing it to Fleming, who passes it to Martin Philips, who passes it back to James who throws it! Gryffindor scores again!"

More swearing from Slytherins as the Gryffindors roared with delight.

James and Jacob gave each other a high five as they sped in different directions, ready for the next play.

As the game continued on, Slytherin managed to score five times. Gryffindor, however, continued their fine streak of luck before the two teams were tied.

"And with both teams at fifty points," Dominique said. "-we all hold our breath eagerly, waiting for what comes next."

Marty looked around calmly, waiting. Where was it?

"And right before Gryffindor can score, a beater ruins Potter's throw, allowing the Slytherin seeker an easy save."

There! Marty sped in the direction of a small, golden figure as it sped right above the other players.

"And it looks like Gryffindor seeker Marty Blaine has seen the Snitch! He's tearing off after it, closely followed by Slytherin seeker Laurence Lopez."

Though Laurence was fairly nice to people in other houses, the small seeker never passed up a chance to best them. He tore off after Marty as fast as he could, ready to shoot directly in front of him.

Marty raised his right hand, preparing to make a grab for the snitch.

"I've almost got it!" he shouted.

He saw the Bludger coming and swerved, avoiding it.

Luckily, he hadn't lost the snitch. Unluckily, Laurence was now in front of him, laughing in his slightly high voice.

"Now _I've _almost got it!" he yelled back.

Students and teachers in the stands stood up and began yelling loudly for whatever house they were cheering for.

As they circled the field, Marty pulled up next to Laurence and said

"Look out below!"

Before Laurence could react, Marty dived under him, making him falter and fall back.

The Slytherin swore just as Marty made a grab for the snitch. He felt his gloved fingers close around the cold metal and he raised his arm in triumph.

"Marty Blaine has caught the snitch!" an ecstatic Dominique cheered. "GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and many staff members all cheered wildly as the whole Gryffindor team started hugging Marty.

Jacob and Martin both hoisted the third year into the air, letting him relish the glory of his first win.

The smile on Marty's face was priceless.


	8. Chapter 8

Harry Potter: Next Generation

Chapter 8: The after party

That night in the common room, the celebratory cheers of the Gryffindors were raised high during the party. The Quidditch team became the life of the fiesta, especially with Jacob and Martin dancing comically to the music.

James, however, seemed a little distant as he celebrated. He kept looking over at Scorpius, wondering what there was he did not know about him.

In the middle of his thoughts, James was interrupted by Victioe.

"Having fun?" she asked him.

"Yeah, of course," he replied.

She smiled and then said

"You know, little cousin, it feels like your hiding certain feelings." She smirked before saying "So, what the hell's wrong?"

"Nothing," James told her, trying more or less to convince himself.

"Nothing?" she repeated.

"Nothing," James finished.

As he walked away, Victioe rolled her eyes.

"Boys," she muttered.

Scorpius sat with Al, Rose, Nick, and the most of the other first years.

"So, what are you all doing for the holidays?" asked Kyle.

"I'm heading home to spend time with Mum and Dad," Sarah answered. "You?"

"I'm going to Kyle's house," Burk replied. "Isn't that what Scorp's doing with Albus?"

They all turned to look at Scorpius who was silent for a moment.

"Yeah!" Albus alleged, excitedly. "That'd be great! All my cousins are gonna be over and Nick's coming too. Come on, Scorp. It'd be a fun way to meet the family."

Scorpius felt more like the meeting the Potter family wouldn't be so much _fun _unless he enjoyed being treated like a convicted Death Eater.

"Er…," he said. "Well, I doubt my dad would let me."

"Oh, just write him then," Rose suggested. "I'm sure he'd say yes."

"Doubtful," said a voice behind them all.

They turned to see James standing there, looking at Scorpius.

"What do _you _want?" Scorpius muttered.

"Just leave him alone, James," Nick started. "He's had enough of your bullying."

"I'm not here to bully him, Nick," James responded with surprisingly no anger in his tone. "I just want to talk to him."

There was a pause before he asked "Please?"

Scorpius nodded and left his group, despite how confused they all looked.

James and Scorp walked up the spiral stairs and into the fourth year boys' dormitory. James sat on his bed, motioning for Scorp to sit in front of him on the other.

When he did, James began.

"So…I know I've been treating you…well…very badly. I'm not really a bully, usually. I'm more often a popular, entertaining, full of himself dickhead."

James smiled when the younger boy giggled a little. When James looked at him, he stopped seeing the new Draco Malfoy and instead saw a little kid, innocent and even enjoyable.

"I just wanted to say something that I usually don't say to a lot of people," James continued. "I'm sorry, Scorp."

The Malfoy boy was quite for a moment before asking

"Does this mean we're friends now?"

James smiled.

"I'll even help you with that prank Jacob's planning for you," he said. His expression softened a bit. "So, about what you said about your father…does he really hit you?"

Scorpius lost all trace of his smile and he looked down at his feet.

After a moment of silence, he started speaking again.

"He didn't used to," he said back. "He used to treat me really well. I was his pride and joy. He used to say I was the only thing he ever did right. Me and Mum were the most important thing to him in the world. Then, life got harder. We were losing money and dad had to get a job in the Minister's office so that we could stay in what he called the _higher class. _That was when I was younger. Eventually, he was under more stress. I barely ever see him smile these days. Then, he kept getting angrier and angrier until one night, he just straight up hit me. It started to get worse. Now, he whips me with his belt whenever he gets even a little drunk."

Scorpius looked up at James, his pale, blue eyes watery with fresh tears.

"I'm scared of him, James," he whispered. "I really am. I don't wanna go home."

James sat and stared at Scorpius, wondering what to do. He decided that the younger boy needed an older brother more than anything, someone to look up to and ask for help. He sat next to Scorpius and put his arm around him, comforting him.

Scorpius leaned over and cried on James' shoulder, looking miserable. When he was finished, James said to him

"Look, Scorp. I'm gonna change too and I'm going to help you get through this. I'll try and take care of you here. Don't worry. I'll help you prove yourself."

Scorpius smiled a little as they both stood. Then, without thinking about it, he gave the teenager a hug. James returned it, smiling to himself.

"And Scorpius?" said James.

"Yeah?" murmured Scorpius.

"Just the fact that you've been brave enough to hold this secret to help your father…makes you braver than all the other Gryffindors here."

The Malfoy boy smiled warmly, feeling himself lift up as if an angle had sung to him. Nobody had ever complimented him like that before.

"Come on," James laughed. "Let's get back to the party. I bet there's some high quality entertainment from Jacob and Martin, too."

Together, the two excited the room.


	9. Chapter 9

Harry Potter: Next Generation

Chapter 9: The prank

November continued on, getting colder and colder every day. Frost began to cover the grounds in thin blankets every morning and students walked around bundled up as if in a snow storm whenever they went to classes. Most of the classes were heated, but the corridors were never a place where one would want to spend time during winter. Older students and teachers were stating that this was the coldest winter they had endured in a long time.

"Yes, go ahead, Mr. Kragoff," Professor Longbottom answered to Nick after he had asked to run upstairs to get his gloves.

It was extremely difficult to work on magical plants when it was in the twenties outside. The Herbology buildings provided no cover for weather besides rain. The only thing that kept the classes enjoyable was the entertaining fusses Professor Longbottom would make during a cold wind.

"Blimey!" he shouted after one that made everyone shake. "Good God, why can't we have an extra classroom inside? I'm gonna bring that up at the next meeting. This is horrible!"

"I can't imagine having to spend all day in here, Professor," Rose said with sympathy.

"It's a bit like the time I stood in a Muggle freezer when I was on break with some other students, this was after the war, of course," he replied. "Truth be told, it was Ron's idea."

"We've never heard this story," Albus laughed.

"You wouldn't have," Longbottom returned. "Your dad was dared to hit on Muggle waitresses. Believe it or not, the famous Harry Potter was pretty terrible when it came to women."

"I think your Mum felt bad for him, Al," Scorp joked.

They all continued to joke, Professor Longbottom still swearing as quietly as he could so as not to break his little _language _rule.

When Nick entered the classroom again, he managed to break that rule.

"Five p-points from G-Gryffindor," Neville told Nick as another cold wind slapped him in the face.

When no students were listening, he muttered "Shit!"

As they left the classroom, thankful for no homework as the teachers seemed to be going easy on them, Rose talked to Professor Longbottom.

"I swear this is the worst part of the job," Neville admitted. "At least my bedroom and office are both in doors. Otherwise, I'd rather sleep in the trophy room."

"How do you think the flying instructor feels?" Rose asked. "No shelter at all for the entire day? At least Hagrid has a warm cabin."

"I'm pretty sure he invites anyone teaching outdoors in there usually," Neville said. "Hagrid's hut is our safe house when it's cold out."

Even worse than flying and Herbology lessons was Potions. The dungeons were chilly in spring and slightly warm during the summer. During winter?

"I hate my life," Kyle muttered, huddling closer to his cauldron fire for warmth.

"I hate your life more," Burk replied, doing the same.

Professor Moses seemed completely unaffected. He was still wearing black robes and black leather gloves and he didn't even shiver once as they all worked on their concoctions.

"I heard he cast a warming charm on his clothes," Rose explained as they all walked up the stairs from the dungeons. "Usually they stop working after a while and it takes a good amount of energy to keep recasting, but he seems pretty good at it."

"Lucky bastard," Nick muttered as he hugged himself.

Later in the cozy, hot common room, everyone sat around, either doing whatever homework might be left or simply relaxing. Albus, Scorpius, and Nick all sat around with the other first years, taken by the heat that was calming them as if by magic.

Rose rushed through the portrait hole, looking pale with cold. She savored the feeling of the common room and then briskly walked over to the group of first years.

"Scorp," she began.

"Please tell me I don't have to get up for whatever it is," the sleepy Malfoy muttered in response.

"Well, either you can sit here and relax while the older students glare at you or you can come with me to see Jacob, Martin, and James. They have a plan for a prank."

Scorp sat up, suddenly very interested.

"Is it a good plan?" he asked.

"It's brilliant," she said. "I mean, it'll take a very long time for it to be finished, maybe by the end of the year, but it'll be worth the wait!"

"Is it warm wherever they want to meet?" he asked.

"It's very toasty," she replied, smiling. "And it's even on the same floor, just in the corridor on the other side of the staircase."

Scorpius stood, grinning.

"Let's go," said Scorp, rubbing his white hands together.

They both pushed through the Fat Lady portrait and started to dart down one flight of stairs and up another. They walked in the seventh floor corridor for less than a minute before they arrived in front of a large blank wall next to an image painted on cloth that rested on the other wall of a man being beaten by trolls wearing ballet tutus.

"Um," Scorp managed. "Where exactly-,"

"Just concentrate about how much you want to get into the room where you're meeting them," Rose explained. "Think about it at least three times in your head and get rid of thoughts about _anything _else."

Suddenly realizing something, he remembered the story his father had told about his sixth year, the year he ruined everything for them. Scorpius closed his eyes and squeezed them tightly.

When he opened them, he watched in astonishment as large double doors appeared in the wall, melting into existence. They looked like large bronze gates, blackened with age, with swirly designs covering them.

He looked at Rose, his face wide with amazement and joy. Rose beamed back walked forward.

"Let's go in," she suggested.

The pushed open the right door and led Scorpius inside.

The inside was immaculate. The whole room was the size of the entrance hall with priceless looking furniture everywhere and a large Muggle T.V screen that sat over a wide fireplace. The room was even warmer and more inviting than the Gryffindor common room and Scorp felt his insides relax as he stepped in.

He looked at the three teenagers standing in the middle of the room; Martin and James with Jacob in the middle, looking very proud of himself.

"Welcome, Scorpius Malfoy," Jacob greeted, spreading his arms out theatrically. "-to the Room of Requirement!"

…

Harry pushed his glasses up his nose as they threatened to fall off. It was nighttime, about eleven thirty P.M, and he was still sitting in the meeting room he used for his team. The Head Auror read through the files of all the data they had for the tenth time, feeling himself dose off each time he did so.

Ron sat next to him, doing the same. They both tried their best to find some clue as to where Rosnick was hiding. The Russian Warlock was the most wanted man by the Aurors of all countries, due to his escalating plan for the destruction of all the governments, both Muggle and Magical.

Hermione and Minister Kragoff, or Jacob as they still knew him as, walked into the dark room. Both carried mugs of hot coffee.

"Oh, thank God," Ron said, taking the coffee and ignoring his wife who simply rolled her eyes and got to work.

"How's work?" Jacob asked as he sat down next to Harry.

"Hellish and tiring with no productiveness anywhere in the near future," Harry replied, looking disgruntled and exhausted. "You?"

"Oh, work's _great_," Jacob replied, sarcastically. "I'm the Minister of Magic who has to act like the world's normal when I'm really trying to find a secretly wanted man who has an army of the most dangerous creatures we can think of and is quickly using a disease to create more. On top of that, I have to deal with the complaints of representatives and the Ministers from other countries and I've even got the Muggle Prime-Minister planning an assault on Germany to find Rosnick, which we Wizards know will get us absolutely nowhere. Life's fantastic and grand, isn't it?"

"Tell me about it," groaned Ron.

Hermione sighed "Honestly" and took the papers out from under him.

"I was doing fine," he protested.

"Oh let the master work, please," Hermione urged.

She read through the files as many times as she could before setting them down and sighing.

"Okay," she said. "Let's go through it again."

She stood and walked over to the board, using her wand to make the files enlarge and place themselves on it.

"Rosnick," she began, pointing her wand at a black and white picture of a man who was snarling at them. He was Russian with a mean frown and two beady black eyes. His long black hair covered his neck and he wore long, black robes.

"A Warlock who specializes in body re-animation," Hermione continued. She then pointed at another picture of pale, dead bodies moving like zombies across a deserted war field, the faces ripped open and their mouths gaping as they stared at nothing with blank eyes.

"He's created an army of Inferi," Jacob said. "What Muggles call _Zombies_."

"Except that when these Inferi bite you," Harry began.

"You eventually die a painful death and turn into one of them," Ron finished.

"And the only man who knows how to stop it is the ring leader," Hermione added.

"But we can't find him," Jacob concluded.

They sat in silence for a minute before Harry put his face in his right hand and said "This is going to be a very long winter."

…

Scorpius stared around in awe, taking in every little detail of the room around him.

"Bloody brilliant, isn't it, Scorp?" James asked, smiling at the younger boy's expression.

"I can't believe this!" Scorpius exclaimed. "When did you find this room?"

"Not too long ago," Martin returned. "Jacob and I had heard the stories, wanted to check it out, you know."

He leaned on Jacob's right shoulder with his left arm, giving the two the appearance of a pair of popular, adult irking teenagers. That's exactly what they were.

"And we thought it would be the safest place to talk," Jacob continued. "James, Martin, and I all came up with the perfect prank against Slytherin that you're going to be great at."

"What is it?" Scorpius asked.

The trio of older boys in front of him smiled.

…

On Saturday morning, the students awoke to find that it had snowed the night before. Cheering could be heard through the castle as the Hogwartians all finally found a way to have some fun with the icy weather.

Bundled up in jackets and cloaks, almost all of the castle's residents, students and teachers alike, ran outside on the best spots on the grounds.

Scorpius had never experienced any fun like it. There were massive snow ball wars, teachers versus students, magically enchanted snowman that chased Hagrid's dog all over the fields as the dog yipped happily, Hagrid laughing his head off. There were students lying on their backs, making loads of beautiful snow angles, igloos that formed forts for the snow ball war, and smaller first years running around catching snowflakes on the tip of their tongues. It was the most beautiful and happy sight any of them had ever laid eyes on.

"We're definitely staying for Christmas next year for this," Albus said to Rose.

"We'll see," she laughed, swiping her wand through the air and making a large snow ball hit a laughing Professor Longbottom in the face.

"Battle of Hogwarts with snow!" he shouted, laughing.

At this joke, Jacob and Martin began acting out the parts of the battle people looked back on with pride. Other students helped them.

"I KILLED SIRIUS BLACK!" Jacob cackled in an over exaggerated impression of Bellatrix Lestrange.

He jumped around laughing like a maniac and shouted things like "I'm psychologically disturbed!" and "I'm in love with Moldy Voldy Voldemort!"

Then, as more and more teachers and students crowded around to watch, Martin leaped into the circle before he began to do a terrifying impression of Grandma Weasley. Albus laughed at this and Rose did as well, surprisingly.

Jacob hit a large snowball, levitated by his wand, directly into the chest of Sarah who fell over, pretending to die.

"NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!" screamed Martin.

Everyone, even staff, began cheering at this famous quote.

"La de da de da dee!" sung Jacob as he pranced around, shooting more and more snowballs with his wand. "I killed everybody! I killed everybody! I never laughed my husband! I'm in love with Voldy!"

Scorpius was surprised to see that Professor Longbottom didn't looked disturbed at the memory of the battle. In fact, he was quite enjoying the parody. Perhaps laughter was the best way to fight off depression after all.

Scorp went back to watching the _duel _as it progressed.

"YOU WILL NEVER INSULT SELINA WARBECK AGAIN!" Martin shouted as the audience cheered and laughed.

He raised his wand and made almost all of the snow around him rise, forming a cloud.

"Impressive!" Professor Greystash commented, sniggering as snow got stuck in his brown beard.

"Give it to 'im, Molly!" Hagrid shouted, laughing as well.

Jacob smiled and muttered "Oh, shit" before Martin thrust his wand through the air, causing all of the snow around him to fly through the air, knocking Jacob on his back and making every person cheer loudly.

A few Muggle Borns began singing "Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead" making the pure bloods raise their frost eyebrows.

While Jacob lay on the snow, "dead", Martin jumped out of the way as James came in and shouted "I'm Harry Freaking Potter!"

Everyone applauded before Kyle ran on.

"What are you doing?" Albus laughed as the other students cheered again.

Kyle looked frantically around, mocking being confused.

"I am Lord Voldemort!" he yelled. Then, he paused for a moment. "WHERE THE HELL IS MY NOSE?"

Nobody could help it. Almost every Hogwartian fell over on the ground, laughing hysterically, losing their breath.

Professor Moses threw an arm around the shoulders of Professor Longbottom, both of them trying to catch their breath.

"Brilliant performance!" Pavelchack applauded. "Well done! Bravo!"

Everyone joined in and Kyle, Martin, James, and Jacob (who had just jumped off the ground) all began to take a bow.

As the day went on, people started to slowly drift inside, still giggling from the fun they had experienced.

"You know, we've never had a school wide snow party before," Greystash commented. "I suppose there is a first for everything. Let's make it a tradition."

"Fine by me," muttered a snickering Professor Longbottom.

…


	10. Chapter 10

Harry Potter and the Next Generation: Year One

Chapter 10: The Holidays

The Christmas break was finally here and the castle's residents couldn't have been more excited. The shining armor in the corridors were decorated with Santa Claus hats and coats, while mistletoe and Christmas wreaths hung on the walls and doors.

The Great Hall looked spectacular. Christmas trees of all colors, pink and green and silver with even gold, all stood side by side along the walls before the tallest tree loomed in the middle. It was nearly twenty feet with enchanted orbs decorated on the branches. The star at the top was crystal with a transparent Hogwarts crest in the middle. It had been added to the school by the board of governors at least five years previous.

The last week before the break was difficult for Scorpius. He had grown so used to Hogwarts and was absolutely terrified of returning home to his father. Neither had exchanged letters of any sort and Scorp could feel the tension rising as the last day before break drew closer and closer.

Professor Moses walked around at lunch one day, taking the names of those who would be staying for the holidays. Many signed up, but most of the student body would be going home for Christmas. Scorp could see the head table was very cheerful about this. They were all drinking eggnog and chortling merrily, Professor Greystash laughing so hard that he spilled his drink in his growing brown beard.

Albus looked at Scorp as Moses walked away, a questioning look on his face.

"So you are going back home then, are you?" Albus inquired.

"Yes," Scorpius muttered in response. "It's complete rubbish; I just _can't _face my father after that moment in Hogsmeade!"

"But you two should have made up by now," Nick alleged. "He's your dad. Why would he shut you out just because you're in Gryffindor?"

"Well, he _was _a death eater, wasn't he?" Albus retorted, looking slightly angry.

Scorpius frowned, looking at Albus who went back to his soup.

Scorpius may have had a father with a bad past and a currently unsteady and unreasonable temper, but hadn't he proved himself all these years after the war? All that time Draco Malfoy had worked as an auror, a partner to Harry Potter himself, before becoming an adviser to Jacob Kragoff, the Minister of Magic? All of that and he was still thought of as a traitor?

Perhaps, Scorpius thought sadly, people will never find it in their hearts to forgive.

More than anything, Scorp wanted to spend Christmas with the Potters. They would be having the entire family over, Weasleys as well as Teddy Lupin, and Scorp did not want to have to spend two weeks at home with his father. They lived in a large, welcoming house and Scorpius had a beautiful and loving mother, but he wanted to be with his friends. And he wanted to show the whole Potter/Weasley clan that just because he resembled his father's looks almost exactly, that it didn't mean he was the same person. At least they should understand that above other people.

When the day of departure at last arrived, Scorpius found himself more nervous than he'd felt upon first arriving at the school. He packed his bags swiftly and then went to join Albus, Rose, Nick and the others down in the entrance hall.

"Looking forward to the holiday?" Rose asked Scorp.

He smiled unenthusiastically and replied with a short "Yeah" before the group of leaving students began to make their way to the carriages.

Scorp saw Hagrid waving at them from his hut.

"Have a good break, you lot!" he shouted as students smiled and waved back.

When they reached the gates, they all began to clamber into carriages, trying to get seats next to friends. Scorpius managed to get into a seat with Albus and the others. Snowflakes began to slowly descend on them as they rode into Hogsmeade. Everybody kept trying to catch flakes in their hands or tongues. Scorp smiled and copied Albus and Nick who were doing both.

They all hugged themselves for more warmth as they made their way towards the train. James, Jacob, and Martin all helped them lift their trunks on board before going to find their group of friends.

"Let's get a compartment before they all fill up," Rose suggested.

The others nodded and they went in search of one, hoping they wouldn't end up sitting in the table filled car that had no compartments at all. Plenty of students sat in there, it made eating easier, but it wasn't as comfortable.

They managed to find one at the end of their car with no other students inside. So Albus, Scorpius, Rose, Nick, Kyle, Sarah, and Burk all managed to get fit their luggage inside and find seats.

As the train sped through the snowy fields, cold wind freezing their windows, they all talked animatedly about their plans for the holidays.

"Kyle's family and mine are getting together again for a party," Burk explained. "They do this every year."

"Except I got invited this year," Sarah pointed out.

"Yeah, so that's our plan," Kyle said. "What about you guys?"

"Going over to Al's for Christmas day," Rose answered. "The whole family's coming over. It's going to be a lot of fun."

"What about you, Scorp?" Albus inquired. "Do you have any family coming over for the holidays?"

Scorpius shook his head.

"Neither of my parents had any siblings," he said. "Nor do I, anyway. So, it's just going to be me and my parents for Christmas."

Albus raised an eyebrow in thought before asking

"Well, why don't you just come over to my house for Christmas?"

Scorpius smiled for a moment before shaking his head in disappointment.

"My father would never go for it," he replied. "To him, any kind of holiday enjoyment is completely out of the question."

"Maybe he just needs to be visited by three spirits," Nick suggested.

The rest of them laughed for a minute before moving on to other conversation. Outside, a small snow storm began, obscuring their vision out the window.

As the train continued on, the compartment was paid a visit from James and his group of friends who then left and were followed by Victoire with Jacob and Martin who cracked some jokes for gratification before leaving. After a few hours, Sarah and one of her dark haired friends fell asleep as Burk and Kyle scribbled notes in journals.

Rose soon had her nose in a book while Nick and Albus quietly discussed Quidditch. Scorpius stood and left to use the lavatory in an attempt to stretch his legs a bit.

Walking through the cars of the train, he finally reached a small loo that he walked inside. After relieving himself, he washed his hands and walked back out, making way for the food trolley. As he turned a corner, he stopped when he heard two very familiar voices.

Quickly ducking behind a small trolley, Scorpius watched as two Slytherins walked in. Nobody else was near them and they both continued their conversation, stopping in their tracks.

"The Gryffindors are planning something, I know it!" whispered a troubled Anthony Wisecrock, a short Slytherin boy with blonde hair. "I just know it has to do with the Potters, the Weasleys, that Fleming Mudblood, and the blood traitor Malfoy."

Scorp winced slightly. He had heard the name _blood traitor _used on him many times by Slytherins, but never had it sounded so casual as if it was just what he was known as.

"I'm not surprised," muttered Trevor Skullfield, who was standing right next to Scorp's hiding place. "That Scorpius Malfoy has been a disappointment ever since he arrived here. Well, if the Gryffindor's are planning something, then _we _just need to make a counterplan. Easy enough. We are smarter, aren't we?"

_Then explain why your Dark Lord lost the war_, Scorpius thought, angrily.

The two boys exited, probably heading back to their compartment. Scorpius stood, thinking about what he had heard.

_Who could've told them that the Gryffindors were planning something? _Scorpius decided to speak to Jacob as quickly as he could. Diving past a tall Hufflepuff girl who had just walked in, Scorpius darted to his sixth year friend's compartment.

…

James was bored. The talk amongst his friends had thinned in interesting gossip and he was no longer in the mood to just sit around.

Excusing himself, James walked out of the compartment and began walking down the corridors, aimlessly as he tried to find something more interesting to do. After about two minutes, he found something. A loud muffling was coming from the lavatory next to him and he knocked on the door.

"Hello?" he said.

The muffled voice continued again, trying to speak what sounded like "Help".

James tried the handle but found the door was locked from the inside. Pulling out his wand, he cast a quick and easy unlocking charm Aunt Hermione had mentioned once before he even came to school. The door opened and James walked in, closing it behind him. He nearly gasped.

Little Scorpius was on the floor, his ankles and wrists bound and a tightly tied cloth gagging him.

"Oh, my God," James exclaimed, making the bounds untie with his wand.

He pulled out the cloth in Scorp's mouth to see his face tear stained. This wasn't good. Scorpius had not cried in a while. Things had been getting so good.

"What happened?" James asked him. "Was it some Slytherins?"

Scorp looked at him and then nodded.

"Who?" he questioned.

Scorpius gulped for a moment before muttering

"I…I d-didn't kn-know t-them," he stammered. "T-two se-seventh y-years, I think."

"What'd they do?"

Scorpius whipped his face, looking beyond embarrassed.

"Tied me up, and then started punching me a lot," he explained, breathing shakily.

"And no one heard you?" asked James.

Scorpius shook his head.

"They p-put some kind of silencing charm on me. It must have worn off."

"Well, here, let's get you back to your compar-," James began.

"No!" Scorp snapped, looking scared. "I don't want them to see me like this. I'm a fucking mess."

James smiled a little when he heard the young boy swear.

"Fine," he said. "I won't tell anyone. I promise."

He sat next to Scorp, pointing his wand at the door and locking it.

"_Muffliato_," he whispered. "There. A little bit of quiet for anyone outside."

Scorp smiled in appreciation before looking at his knees as he whipped his reddened face again.

James put a brotherly arm around the boy's shoulders, trying to calm him.

"You know," James started. "I can prank those guys fasted then you can say _Quidditch_."

Scorp laughed quietly, making James smile again. Scorpius was different than the other first years. He was smaller than quite a few of them, and seemed to strike some people as younger. When Jacob or Martin or even James and their friends made him laugh, they felt warm to see him be so happy. He was so different from his father. While that man had been the boy who wanted to rule the school with a prejudice attitude, Scorpius was an innocent little kid who felt like everybody's younger brother. Albus and Rose took care of him and so did the rest who knew him well. Though he wasn't as good at standing up for himself alone, with his friends, he was stronger hearted than most of _them_.

And as the train continued on, James made more jokes for Scorp's benefit, using some he had heard from Uncle George. Scorp no longer looked as though he had been crying or hurt and the two thought it safe to return to the compartments.

James walked back to Scorp's with him, keeping a protective arm around him as he glared at a couple of tall Slytherin boys who looked like Scorp's description.

When they entered the compartment, they found that only Rose and Sarah were even awake.

"Tired, are they?" Scorpius inquired, quietly.

"No, just lazy," Rose replied, writing in a notebook as Sarah poked her friend's face with boredom.

James patted Scorpius on the back and turned to leave.

"Um, James-," Scorp began.

James stopped and looked at him.

"Yeah, buddy?" he said.

"Um, thank you," he said, smiling slightly.

James nodded, grinning.

"You're welcome, Scorp," he responded. Then, he left the compartment.

There was a pause while Rose starred at Scorpius.

"What?" he said.

"Thank-you for _what_, exactly?" she queried.

"Nothing, he just did something nice for me when I was feeling a little down, nothing big," Scorp replied.

"James _never _does something nice for the younger kids," Rose explained. "Not even _Albus_ even though they're brothers."

"Never?"

"Never," Albus muttered, sleepily with his eyes still closed.

Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Good morning, Al," he greeted.

Albus sat up, his eyes opening up to slits.

"Are we there yet?" he questioned.

"Nope, not yet," Sarah told, reading the _Prophet._

"Well, I'm gonna go pay a visit the snack trolley," he announced as Kyle stirred, standing up to leave.

"Oh, and watch out for angry Slytherins," Scorpius called to Albus as he stepped out of the door.

Al leaned back in to look at him.

"Sorry?" he said.

"Just a word to the wise," Scorpius finished.

Albus shrugged and left.

…

Finally, after a long day's travel, the Hogwarts express arrived in platform nine and three quarters. The students all grabbed their luggage and began to exit the train, looking around for their excited families. Scorpius said good-bye to his friends before starting toward the woman he had spotted.

A black haired lady with a large smile waved at him as he saw her. Scorpius ran up to his beautiful mother before throwing his arms around her in an exuberant hug. She returned it happily before asking

"And how's term been?"

"Fine," Scorp told her, obviously not the entire truth.

Before they could leave, however, Albus called out to Scorpius.

"Hey, Scorp!" he shouted, waving his hand for Scorpius to come over.

Mrs. Malfoy smiled and looked down at her son.

"Scorp?" she repeated. "What a wonderful nick-name. I wonder why _I _never thought of that."

The young Malfoy rushed back to his friend to hug him quickly.

"So, will you ask them?" Albus asked, quietly.

"Of course," Scorp replied. "My mother's your mum's friend. Why should she say no?"

"But your dad might," Albus reminded.

Scorpius shook that off.

"Well, he worked with your dad and uncle for years. Why should _he _say no?" he questioned.

Just then, a tall woman with long, slightly bushy red hair appeared behind Albus.

"Oh, you must be Scorpius," Mrs. Potter observed, shaking Scorp's hand. "I was wondering when I would meet you. Albus has mentioned you before in his letters."

Al's ears went slightly red and Scorp laughed silently.

"Where's your mum, Scorpius?" she asked. "It's probably been years since I-,"

"Ginny!" Mrs. Malfoy exclaimed as she rushed over. "Hi!"

"Hi!" called out an ecstatic Ginny Potter. "Hi!"

The two women hugged each other and began talking to each other animatedly, updating the two on their entire lives since they last saw each other. Because of this, Albus and Scorp sat with James on their luggage as the platform emptied.

"It's bloody amazing how women can do that," Albus said after twenty or so minutes.

James playfully slapped him on the back of the head, laughing.

"So, Malfoy," he started. "Coming over for New Years as planned?"

"I still have to ask," Scorp replied. "My father-,"

"He'll say yes, don't worry," James assured. "I suppose he's not here for the same reason Dad's not."

"Work," the trio of boys said together.

After a long conversation between the two mothers, they walked over to where their children sat.

"Right, well we'd best be off _Scorp_, now shouldn't we?" Mrs. Malfoy alleged, looking at her son. "It was lovely seeing you again, Ginny."

"And you, Astoria," Mrs. Potter replied. "We should get together sometime over the holidays."

"Oh, that'd be wonderful," Mrs. Malfoy agreed. "I could finally see Hermione again. And it would be excellent to be reacquainted with Harry and Ronald."

"Well, that sounds better than living with them," Mrs. Potter joked. "Come on, boys."

Scorpius said his goodbyes to James and Albus before following in his mother's wake, glancing back at Mrs. Potter, who winked.

The two walked through the streets of London for a while as night began to fall. Just then, Scorpius thought he saw a familiar figure walking on the other street, a long black coat wrapped around him.

"Jacob!" he tried to call out. But the older boy did not seem to hear him.

Instead, he ducked into another alley, and out of sight.

"Oh, he probably didn't hear you over this blasted wind," Mrs. Malfoy assured. "You'll see him at Hogwarts, I expect. Is he a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, kind of a mentor in how to be a Gryffindor," laughed Scorp.

Astoria laughed too, but only briefly. Then they walked in silence for a minute before she began speaking again, this time sounding grimmer.

"You know, Scorpius," she said. "Your father isn't as angry as he may seem."

"Really?" Scorp started. "Then how come he came to yell at me in the middle of Hogsmeade?"

He had never been afraid of speaking to his mother like this, but to his father, he was terrified.

Astoria bowed her head before replying

"He has had a hard time after the war," she admitted. "So many people consider blood on his hands. But few know that when Harry Potter was pretending to be dead in front of the Dark Lord, the wand he had stolen from your father was given back to its original owner."

They walked further.

"But when Harry Potter was running about as the battle began again, your father tossed him the wand he had desperately wanted back. If he hadn't done that," she looked down at her son. "-then who knows how Harry Potter could've defeated Voldemort?"

Scorpius thought about this for a moment.

"So, dad's kind of a hero, then?" he questioned.

"Well, why else would Mr. Potter have hired him on his auror team all those years ago?" she asked. "I think that just because of that one, swift motion of help in the battle caused Harry Potter to forgive his least favorite Slytherin student for all the years of their hatred."

They stopped in front of a wall corner at the end of the street, in between two Muggle shops. However, they could see that it was really the entrance to an old, dingy, and yet very reliable and famous inn.

_THE LEAKY CAULDRON_, it read.

Astoria Malfoy opened the door, allowing Scorpius to step inside before following. There were quite a few wizards and witches inside, all of whom were drinking and eating dinners. As they walked up to the bar, the man behind the counter smiled at them.

"Ah, hello there, Mrs. Malfoy," he greeted, warmly. "Care for a drink?"

"Just a fire whiskey for me and a hot chocolate for Scorpius," she ordered, smiling gratefully.

"Just a sec," the man said, walking into the kitchen.

Some other people greeted Astoria as they walked by, wishing her a happy Christmas. Unlike her husband, and apparently her son as well, Astoria Malfoy was well-liked in the world of wizards.

The bar man came back out of the kitchen and handed Astoria a mug of hot chocolate and a class of fire whiskey.

"There you are, Miss," he finished.

She and Scorpius appreciatively drank their warm drinks, sitting at a small table near the fire.

"Your father will be home by now," she muttered, looking at the clock. "We'd best finish up soon."

Scorpius nodded.

"So," Astoria began after another minute's silence. "Are there any girls you're interested in at Hogwarts?"

He did not respond for a moment before saying "Erm, not really."

"_Erm, not really_?" Astoria repeated, making her son smile. "Am I to take it that you don't have feelings for anyone at school or that you do and don't want to tell me?"

Scorpius smirked.

"A little of both," he responded.

"Oh, well _that _response makes less sense than the one you made and the one I thought you would make," she said, before setting her drink down. "Now, I've already paid for these, so let's head home if you're finished."

Scorp nodded and downed the last little bit of the chocolate liquid before following his mother to the public fire place where people were coming and going via _flu_ powder.

Taking a handful out of a pouch in her pocket, Astoria tossed it into the fire place, causing the orange and red flames to burst green and white.

"Ah, the Slytherin colors," she said. "Well, on you go, my son, before it wears off."

Scorpius obeyed, stepping into the flames and saying "Malfoy Manner!" very clearly. After that, he felt himself get pulled in, twisting and turning faster than he liked. It was not his favorite means of travel.

After a short moment of this, he felt himself stumble onto the carpet of a dark, old house, larger than most _buildings _he had been inside. This was not including Hogwarts, of course.

It was very dark indeed and Scorpius wondered why his father hadn't turned on any of the lights.

"Dad?" he called. "I'm home!"

Just then, his mother came spinning out of the fire, looking very entertained.

"Wee!" she giggled after regaining her balance. "I _love _flu powder."

Then, she looked about the house.

"Oh, that's odd," she murmured. "Why on earth hasn't your father lit any of the lights?"

She waved her wand and silently made them all flicker to life.

"There, that's better," she said before walking through the house, Scorpius right behind her.

"Draco?" she called. "Dear, are you home?"

They went to sit in the living room, the main one at least, before Astoria collapsed onto the black sofa.

"Oh, I miss our old house," she admitted. "It was nice and beautiful as well, but not the size of a small palace. It's a living hell to clean this place."

"Where's Dad?" Scorp wondered aloud.

"Oh, he's probably still at work, dear," she suggested. "He's had a very important case that he's been working on with Mr. Potter for months at the Minister's request. I expect they're dealing with that right now."


	11. Chapter 11

Harry Potter and the Next Generation: Year One

Chapter 11: Rosnick 

The Russian warlock who sat in front of them could only be described as sinister looking, what with his long greasy grey hair and dark bags under his cold, black eyes. His skin was as pale as a sick Vampire and when he glared at them, Harry felt as though he was having his essence drained away by the second. This man was Victor Rosnick.

"By the way, Harry," said Minister Kragoff who stood behind Harry. "You don't have to get me a Christmas present this year. The capture of this sadistic bastard should suffice."

"Here, here," agreed Malfoy who sat on Harry's right. On his left was Hermione who wore a grey and black suit and a long dark skit to go along with it. She looked presentable, professional, and beautiful.

"So," Harry began, smiling slightly. "Victor Rosnick…the most powerful warlock in his large and powerful country. The man who created the contagion potion and injected it into one hundred capture men, Muggles and Wizards alike."

Rosnickcould only smile back.

"Your potion turned them into Inferi," Malfoy said. "Or, _zombies _as Muggles call them. You planned to set them all loose on the rest of the world as the curse could be transferred through biting. It would be an apocalypse."

"And I would have succeeded too," Rosnick replied, dryly. "I am a mastermind. I know how to create chaos. All I want…is chaos."

Harry once again glared.

"Yes, but you didn't count on Britain getting involved did you?"

"Didn't expect famous Harry James Potter and all of his companions to bet let loose on you?" the Minister added.

"Well," said Rosnick. "What can I say? Shit happens."

Harry nodded, smiling again.

"And for the murder of all those men, you won't just be going away," Harry continued. "A quick and clean execution with no questions asked."

"Life's a bitch, isn't it?" Malfoy smirked, smiling for the first time in what seemed like years.

Rosnick did no more than glare back.

"You're right, Mr. Malfoy," he muttered. "But only know, that life can be bad for more than just one side of a war."

"This wasn't a war," Harry interjected. "It was a dispute…I'm done with wars."

"As are we all," Hermione finished.

Rosnick bowed his head.

"Well, I suppose I lost whatever this was," he said. "I just hope I can make a comeback."

"You're being executed tonight," Malfoy reminded.

Rosnick smiled.

"Genius warlocks can escape regular wizards, Mr. Malfoy," he said.

…

The guards directed the dark warlock down the corridors of the ministry, not daring to look at him. As they did so, they did not notice the small light the appeared on his shackles for just a second, causing them to slip off his wrists. They clattered to the floor, noisily and the guards turned, pointing their wands at Rosnick.

Green light spilled from his right hand, leaving small scars, and causing the left guard to fall to the ground, dead.

The other's spell was deflected by Rosnick's other hand before it too hit the man with green light.

"Hand magic," he muttered in Russian. "Best kind there is."

"I beg to differ," called a voice from behind in Russian as well.

Rosnick turned to see the Minister running toward him, obviously furious as he saw the bodies of his two guards.

The Minister drew his black wand, gripping the light brown handle tightly and directing the tip at the warlock.

"Then we duel," Rosnick suggested in English.

He shot purple flame at Kragoff who waved it aside with a quick shield charm. He then countered with a burst of orange and black flames which nearly hit the warlock. The two began to duel hard, with light shooting against the walls and causing others to appear to help. Harry suddenly drew his wand without anyone noticing. One quick motion towards the distracted warlock and Rosnick was on the ground.

Kragoff cast a body bind spell before running up with the others to look at the fallen villain.

"Well, that was too easy," Ron said. "Not that I'm complaining."

"Get him out of here!" commanded the Minister at five other guards who had appeared.

Hermione and Malfoy tended to the fallen guards.

"They're not dead," Hermione told, causing the others to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Perhaps Mr. Rosnick wasn't as talented in hang magic as he would have liked to believe," Malfoy said. "A stunning charm from the man probably would have barely made us stumble."

"Even the best wizards need a wand," Hermione added. "It's the only way to use magic correctly."

"Agreed," said Harry. "And now, we can hurry up and finish whatever paper work is left. Then, we can go home!"

The others all nodded, looking exhausted.

YES, VERY SHORT CHAPTER, BUT PLEASE REVIEW!


	12. Chapter 12

Harry Potter and the Next Generation: Year One

Chapter 12: The question

…

"Bloody hell!" exclaimed James.

It was Christmas morning and the teenager was examining a fine, black guitar with a special self-tuning charm.

"James, watch your language," Mrs. Potter snapped. "It's Christmas!"

Harry laughed as his son bothered not to even mutter sorry and just simply continued to run his fingers along the strings of the instrument, his wide eyes starring in reverence.

"And a Merry Christmas it is!" cheered Arthur Weasley as he stepped out of the kitchen, levitating a tray full of wine glasses and eggnog. "Who wants refreshments?"

"Not now, Arthur, dear," said Molly Weasley. "We're opening presents."

"That's gonna take a while," Mr. Weasley responded as he moved back into the kitchen. "There are a lot of people here!"

Indeed there were. The crowd of family that had gathered in Harry Potter's residence was immense compared to most holiday gatherings.

This included Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Weasley, Ginny Potter, Minister Jacob Kragoff (being an old family friend since school days) his wife Katie Bell Kragoff, their five sons Bill (who had been born before either was even married and was now nineteen and simply visiting) and his four younger brothers Nick, the twins Dennis and Preston, and the small little toddler Chris.

Rose and Hugo were also there, eagerly tearing open their gifts with pleasure as their parents smiled.

Fred Weasley, an eight year old boy with tan skin, was also opening presents as his parents George and Angelina exchanged their gifts.

Percy Weasley and his wife, Penelope, were giving gifts to their family members, including their ten year old daughter, Molly (whom Percy had named to make up to his mother for how he had acted for nearly three years).

Billy Weasley and Fleur were talking with Charlie, who was still not married, as their daughter Victoire talked with Teddy Lupin, who was also poking Albus playfully. Dominique, who was nine, was opening presents just like the other children, holding them up to show her parents what she had received.

"I hope you didn't get her anything dangerous, George," Fleur sternly said to her brother-in-law.

"Since when have I ever done that?" he asked as one of the presents far away from the group exploded with large sparks, making everybody yelp.

"What the _hell _was that?" called Arthur.

"Oh it must have been one of my fireworks for Harry," George muttered. "Sorry, mate."

Harry laughed and rolled his eyes.

As Arthur and Luna Scamander continued working on the food inside the kitchen, Molly soon walking in to help, Rolf, Luna's husband, gave presents to his twin sons, Lycorn and Lysander. The two had somehow managed to stop their arguing for Christmas, or as George referred to it as, _a cease fire_.

Soon, surprisingly, the gigantic pile of presents had been used up and everybody rushed into the enlarged dining room to feast on the Scamander's beautiful cooked turkey. They all clapped as she set it down on the table, making her smile appreciatively.

And so they ate, having the usual entertaining conversation most family clans could not match. Though some of them weren't even related, like the Scamanders and the Kragoffs, Harry considered them family and would always invite them for the holidays.

"Next year we should have Christmas at the Burrow," Jacob Kragoff insisted. "For old time's sake."

"Good luck fitting this lot into our house," Arthur laughed as he put an arm around his wife.

After the meal, and Harry's short speech about how happy he was that they were all there, most of the kids went to play in the snow as the adults had an after-meal cocktail. Soon to join them, not to Albus's surprise, was Neville (or Professor) Longbottom and his wife, Hannah.

They joined Harry and the others for drinks and talked about Hogwarts.

"So, I think you were the luckiest out of all of us," Ron claimed. "You get to stay at Hogwarts, teaching, while we're all stuck inside the Ministry of Magic, dealing with the most irritating people imaginable."

"Well, it can be difficult itself," Neville replied. "And what about you all? Any good cases lately?"

"Well, we did just finally catch a well-known Russian Warlock terrorist," Harry answered. "He's awaiting execution in Azkaban right now."

"And a Merry Christmas to him," Percy said, making the others laugh.

After a while, Harry excused himself, setting down his glass before walking to see what the children were all doing. Even Bill Kragoff and Teddy Lupin had joined in on the fun, entertaining the younger kids as they always did. As James wrestled Teddy to the ground, Harry spotted Albus sitting on the porch.

He leaned over and said

"Not having fun?" as he sat next to his son.

"No, I am," Albus said back. "It's just that…I wish Scorpius were here. He still hasn't asked his dad if he can come over for New Year's."

Harry nodded in understanding.

"Well, write him," he said. "He'll ask, don't worry. Now, Al, come with me. I want to show you something. It's a little extra Christmas present."

Albus brightened up at the idea of more presents. So he followed his father into his private study.

It was a large, hansom room with artifacts Harry had collected on his travels set around, including many from his days at Hogwarts or when he was on the run. Harry took a box off of the beautiful oak desk before handing it to Albus.

"I got this present when I was your same exact age," Harry explained. "I think it was time I passed it on to you."

Albus smiled, figuring it out. He opened the box and pulled out the astonishing silvery silk cloak from inside. It was large for him, small for his father, and was one of the most beautiful things Albus had ever seen. It was one of the Deathly Hallows, the one that had been passed down from generation to generation in his family. It was the Invisibility Cloak.

"Wow, dad!" Albus exclaimed, looking amazed.

He hugged his father, who smiled.

"Well," Harry said. "Your brother got the Marauders Map, which is probably how he commits all these pranks, so I figured you should have something just as good."

"Thanks!" said Albus, looking positively gleeful.

He pulled it over his shoulders, making his entire body disappear except for his head.

"I'm invisible!"

Harry laughed.

"Well, part of you is," he joked.

Thinking about all that he could do with the cloak, Albus pulled it off before running to hug his father again.

"Thanks, dad," he repeated.

"Happy Christmas," Harry whispered.

…

Christmas morning at the Malfoy manner was never very interesting. Being the only child, Scorpius received all the presents but was never entirely amazed. He did love what he got, but wished that there were more people, including his friends, to be around during the holidays. His father looked bored most of the time and Astoria was the one who seemed the happiest, as if this were the perfect scene in her opinion.

Just when they had finished eating a quiet meal, the knocker on the front doors was suddenly hammered against the wood.

"Who could _that_ be?" muttered an irritated Draco Malfoy as he walked to the door to answer.

As he opened it, he saw a small, balding man with dark brown skin and a neatly trimmed beard.

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy," he said. "I am the new caretaker you hired."

"Ah, of course. Come in, then," Mr. Malfoy responded, carelessly.

The man did, smiling and bowing to Scorpius and Astoria.

"Oh, I hope you didn't come when you have family," Astoria said. "It's Christmas."

"It's alright, ma'am," he replied. "I have no family. I decided why not come today?"

"Good man," said Mr. Malfoy. "I'll show you to your room."

As the small man walked past Scorpius, he winked.

Not knowing how to respond, Scorpius merely nodded to him as he turned away.

…

Albus, Rose, and Nick all sat on Al's bed. They starred in astonishment at the cloak (which each of them had already tried on) wondering what they would do with it.

"My dad and granddad used it for pranks," Albus said. "We could use it for that."

"Yeah and maybe earn ourselves a reputation besides being the children of the golden trio and the Minister," Nick agreed.

"Just as long as we don't lose sight of what's important," Rose reminded. "We still need to study for exams-,"

"Which are about five months away from now," Albus interrupted. "Don't worry, Rose. I'm not gonna let this ruin my school career, I just want to make it even more enjoyable."

"Well, there's one thing that it could come in handy for," said another voice from the doorway.

They looked up to see James smiling a cocky grin, one eyebrow raised.

"Scorpius could use it for _the _prank."

… 

Never had he been so nervous when asking his father a question. Though he was a hard man, Scorpius usually did not have any inquires that would cause him distress. This, however, would probably irritate the famous traitor, Draco Malfoy.

He entered his father's study, shuffling his feet quietly.

Mr. Malfoy did not even look up, but instead went back to his work. Though the Minister had warned him he needed a holiday break before he collapsed from stress, Draco always brought his files home with him for revision. He took a lot more care with them then he did with his homework at Hogwarts, which explained his marks. He claimed that he was a hard worker because now he was in the _real _world.

"Um…Dad?"

Mr. Malfoy glanced up from his work, barely noticing his son's presence.

"What?" he muttered in response, continuing to write.

Scorp shuffled again and then finally asked the question.

"I was wondering…if…if I could-,"

Again, it seemed as though he could not finish his sentence.

"What is it, Scorpius? I'm very busy here and I don't need you bothering me!" Mr. Malfoy snapped.

Scorpius flinched the way he always did when his father yelled. It was hard to contain his edginess and to control his stuttering.

"I-was w-wondering if I c-could go to the P-Potters' house for New Years?"

There was a pause after Scorpius speedily shot out the rest of the words.

Mr. Malfoy looked at him.

"Scorpius," he began, looking irritated. "Do you know how much your mother has been looking forward to your return?" Scorpius looked down at the floor as his father failed to include himself in the returning remark. "And have you even considered that? You spend an appropriate amount of time with these _friends _of yours at school around the clock during the course of a year and this will happen six more times by which time I'm sure you will have built other relationships as well as those discussed. As all of this progresses, you will have less and less time for us, your _family_. Why would you want to spend the holidays away from home?"

Scorpius shrank back and tried not to scuffle out of the room in terror.

"I-I'm s-s-s-sorry, father," he muttered in a high and scared voice. "N-Never mind."

"Oh, _never mind_," grumbled Mr. Malfoy in menace. "Is that all you can ever do, boy? Just shrink away from problems and squirm and mutter and cry? Well, I will have you know something, Scorpius Malfoy…That is NOT how a Malfoy handles a situation. We are of high stature! WE ARE NOT COWARDS!"

Scorpius stared at his father in fear, trying not to run away or flinch or cry. He focused on how if he tried hard enough, he could be at the Potters' house having a joyful end of the holidays. Then, his father finally, after all these years, crossed the line.

"Besides," he started. "I suppose you don't have enough Malfoy guts in you to become a Slytherin! That's why you're in Gryffindor. The house of false bravery!"

He turned away, about to return to his desk before Scorpius finally frowned, looking more curious than scared. Then, he began to look angry. His house had been full of people who had told him he did not belong in Gryffindor but never had they questioned what the house itself was about. It _was _the house of bravery. Slytherin was the house of cheaters and liars and those who cared only about themselves.

He opened his mouth and talked back to his father for the first time in his life.

"Is that why you ran?"

Mr. Malfoy stopped and turned to look at his son.

"_What _did you just say to me?" he growled.

Scorpius repeated "Is that why you ran?" And then he continued.

"You and Grandmother and Grandfather all ran from the battle just as Harry Potter was making his final stand! You may have helped him by passing him that wand but you were too scared to help any further! _You _are the coward, NOT THEM!"

Draco brought down his right hand faster than Scorpius could flinch. It landed on the side of his face and knocked him into the door behind him, stinging his nerves and reddening his pale skin.

He looked up at his father who was furiously glowering over him, a twitch in one eye and a small tear in the other.

Scorpius pushed his lengthy blonde hair out of his eyes and stared in shock at his father. Never had he looked so angry and never had he hit him that hard.

"Get out," Mr. Malfoy whispered, his voice shaking. Was it hatred or gloom? "Get the _fuck _out of my house! Go to the _Potters_' then. I don't care anymore! How could you be my son? Go and live with them for all I care! Just until you go back to that miserable little school. I don't care! JUST GET OUT!"

With that, he left with Scorpius still lying on the floor. Unable to help it, the boy let tears of pain spill out of his eyes. Except that there was no sound of sobbing, Scorpius was crying again.


End file.
